The Mystery of the Campus Coed
by MomsDarkSecret
Summary: Frank and Joe Hardy are successful college students, living together and working part time as private investigators. But their comfortable life is disrupted when a popular campus jock is implicated in the rape of a pretty coed.
1. College Life

**Disclaimer**: The characters Frank and Joe Hardy, and Chet Morton, are borrowed from the series of Hardy Boys books by Franklin W. Dixon.

**Warnings**: This story includes as an on-going sub-plot an incestuous homosexual relationship between Frank and Joe Hardy. **Slash Warning**! While none of the scenes are particularly graphic or explicit, there's no mistaking what's going on. If these sorts of things make you uncomfortable, I strongly suggest you stop now and go read some other story.

**Summary**: Frank and Joe Hardy are successful college students, living together and working part time as private investigators. But their comfortable life is disrupted when a popular campus jock is implicated in the rape of a pretty coed. This story is a sequel to **The Mystery of the Celibate Corpse** and **The Case of the Missing Detective**, although it is not necessary to read either of these stories first.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 1: **College Life**

"Oh, man!" Joe moaned. "That feels fantastic!"

"You like that?" Frank murmured.

"Oh, yeah!" Joe tightened his legs around Frank's hips. "I can't believe how deep you're getting it. It feels as deep as when you do it from behind."

"It's because you're so relaxed," Frank said. "There's no resistance whatsoever."

"Well, I'm totally loving it. I could do this all day."

"Weren't you planning to go to the basketball game tonight?"

"That's tonight," Joe replied with a smile. "We've got at least two more hours before then."

"You expect me to keep this up for two more hours?" Frank chuckled. "I think that might be a bit much even for me."

Joe slid his hands up and down Frank's sides. "I'll take it for as long as I can get it. You know I'm happiest when you're inside me."

Frank kept moving inside Joe until they were both gasping aloud with pleasure.

"Ah! Yes!" Joe cried. "Don't stop! I'm so close! Ah!" Joe arched up with a cry of joy, his face flushed with orgasm.

An answering cry of ecstasy echoed from Frank's throat. "Oh, yeah!" he groaned. "That was unbelievable."

Joe just grunted in response.

"It's too bad I can't go to the basketball game with you," Frank said. "It's supposed to be a good game."

"That's right," Joe said. "That freshman playing forward is really good. With him on the team for the next four years, we may finally get a championship."

Frank laughed. "I never knew you were into basketball."

"Hey, a guy's gotta have some interests other than fucking."

"And I thought detective work is the only other thing you cared about."

"What can I say?" Joe grinned. "I'm a multi-faceted guy."

"And unbelievably hot, too." Frank kissed him soundly. "Ready for more?"

"Always."

-o-o-o-o-

"Go Mavericks!"

The crowd roared; surging to their feet as the team's freshman forward led the charge in a breakaway three-on-one. He drove down the court, heading straight for the basket. The lone guard from the opposing team backed up to control the center lane, and the Maverick player neatly passed the ball behind his back to the man on his left. His teammate took the ball in for the layup and the crowd went wild.

"It's too bad Frank couldn't make it!" Joe and Frank's friend Chet Morton screamed in Joe's ear. "He'd love this!"

"Yeah!" Joe shouted back.

The spectators resumed their seats as the opposing team tried to slow the pace of the game.

"That freshman Eric Jansen is fantastic!" Chet said enthusiastically. "He's elevated the play of the whole team! Hey!" Chet jumped to his feet, along with most of the Mavericks' fans. "Foul! That was a blatant foul!"

Eric Jansen staggered to one knee, clutching his forehead above his right eye. Blood gushed between his fingers and spattered on the floor, staining the front of his uniform.

"Time out!" Coach Jones of the Mavericks screamed. He charged out onto the floor with a towel, followed by two trainers. The referee came over and leaned in, speaking briefly to Coach Jones. After a short exchange, he straightened up and the coach gestured to another player. "Beckman, you'll take the free throws," he ordered. "Jansen's going to the locker room."

"Yes, Coach!" Beckman went to the free throw line and one of the trainer's escorted Jansen off the floor.

"Man, they did that on purpose!" Chet exploded as he sat down.

"Probably," Joe agreed. "That was pretty low."

The Mavericks held on to win the game, but Eric Jansen never returned from the locker room, although the trainer who had gone with him came back. "I hope Jansen's all right," Joe said as they left the gym. "That was a nasty looking cut."

"He probably needs stitches," Chet said. "Head cuts always bleed like that."

"That's true. They'll probably take him to the hospital now that the game's over."

"Joe!"

"Hey, it's Frank!" Joe jogged over to where Frank was waiting in plain sight under a lamp. "What's up? You missed a good game."

"So I hear." Frank nodded at Chet. "Hey, Chet."

"Frank."

Joe studied Frank's face. "What's happened?"

Frank drew a breath. "You can always tell, can't you?" He folded his arms. "There was a sexual assault."

"What?! When?"

"It probably happened during the game. A coed named Janey Lassiter was attacked on the walkway between the Science and Art buildings going back to her dorm from the library."

Joe frowned. "That's right in back of the gym. I wonder that no one heard anything."

"It was pretty loud," Chet said.

"She probably didn't have time to scream," Frank said. "She was hit on the back of the head and was only semi-conscious during the assault. She didn't get a good look at the guy, but she was definitely violated."

"Damn!" Joe exclaimed. "This is supposed to be a safe campus."

"It is," Frank said. "I mean, we've had a few date rape incidents, but this is the first stranger assault we've had. The campus police are pretty upset. They've asked our agency to look into it and make sure this isn't the start of a trend."

"Aren't the police handling the assault?" Joe asked.

"They are. We're not supposed to interfere with the assault investigation. Our agency has been asked to interview students and get their impressions about the campus and the prevalence of strangers. So, Doug assigned you and me to do the interviews, since we're already here for much of the day."

"Ok." Joe frowned thoughtfully. "But I still wouldn't mind talking to Janey if we can. I'd like to hear firsthand what she remembers."

"I'll ask," Frank said. "She might be willing to talk to us."

News of the assault was all over campus by morning, and by midday, flyers were going up advising female students not to walk anywhere alone at night. Coming out of his last morning class, Joe's phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out, glancing at the number before pushing the talk button and holding it to his ear.

"Hey, Frank, what's up?"

"_I just got a call from the campus police. The Chief would like us to stop by. You got time, right?_"

"Yeah. My next class isn't until two. I'll meet you over there."

"_Great._"

The campus police had a small office adjacent to the main administration building. A fenced corral next to the office, with a rickety, corrugated steel roof, had parking for three electric carts, but they were all out when Joe arrived. Frank was waiting out front.

"Do you know what the chief wants to talk to us about?" Joe asked when he reached him.

"Not specifically." Frank led the way inside. A waist-high counter separated the office area from a small reception area. Two women students were leaving as they entered, their arms loaded with flyers. Joe held the door for them and one of the women favored him with a speculative smile. Frank grinned. "Try to hold the pheromones in, handsome," he murmured.

Joe made a face.

Frank leaned on the counter. "We're here to see the chief. Frank and Joe Hardy."

"Oh, right." A young man seated at one of the desks came over and lifted a panel in the counter. "Come on in." He took them to a door at the back and knocked once. "Chief, those investigators are here." He opened the door for them and stepped aside.

"Frank! Joe! Thanks for coming." Chief Jack Colby came around his desk and pumped their hands eagerly, a wide smile on his face. Chief Colby was in his middle years, and he was starting to show the paunch typical for men his age, but he still had a full head of thick brown hair that was just turning gray at the temples. "I was a classmate of Tom Becker, the sheriff down there in Bayport. He's told me all about you boys. He said you're the best detectives he knows and he trusts your instincts." He waved them into seats. "Sit down."

Frank smiled as he settled into one of the chairs in front of Jack's desk. "I'll have to give Sheriff Becker a call and thank him for the compliment."

Jack plopped back down into his own seat and it creaked loudly. "I have to confess, I decided to call the boss over at the Matthews Detective Agency because I heard you were working there." He folded his arms on the desk and leaned forward. "This has always been a safe campus," he said. "The worst we've had to deal with is kids growing marijuana in their dorm rooms. But this…" he shook his head and frowned unhappily. "I'll tell you honestly; it's got me worried. If this is some nut…"

"Did you get a chance to talk to Janey?"

Jack nodded. "She was still pretty upset, though. It was right after it happened and I didn't want to push her too hard."

"Would it be possible for us to talk to her?" Joe asked.

Jack's brow wrinkled. "She's still in the hospital. She took a pretty bad blow to the head and the doctors want to keep an eye on her for twenty-four hours."

Joe took a notepad out of his backpack and made some notes. "Do you know if Janey submitted to evidence collection?"

"The crisis counselor had just arrived at the hospital when I was leaving, but the police were hoping she would."

"Was any evidence collected at the scene?"

"Nothing significant. From the looks of it, the guy was waiting in the bushes when she walked by. He jumped out behind her and hit her on the back of the head with a blunt object. He dragged her back into the bushes to assault her and then fled. There were lots of broken branches and the ground was torn up, but there were no identifiable tracks or other markings."

"Was it muddy?" Frank asked.

Jack paused and rubbed his chin. "Not really. Just damp."

"Was Janey beat up?"

"No, just that blow to the back of her head."

Joe diligently took notes as Frank asked the questions.

"How was she penetrated?"

Jack shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I can't say exactly. Her panties were torn off and her skirt was pushed up when she was found. "

Frank leaned forward intently. "Was there blood?"

"What do you mean?"

"Around her pubic area. Was she bleeding at all?"

Jack blinked in surprise as he considered the question. "Well, now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing any blood on her legs. Is that important?"

Frank nodded slowly. "Rape is not about sex, Chief. Its purpose is to hurt and humiliate the victim. Penetrating someone against her will almost invariably causes injuries in the vaginal or anal area. I really would like to see the victim report on Janey, Chief Colby. Rapists usually do more damage than what you're describing."

Jack's eyes opened wide. "I'll see what I can do, Frank. But this is a criminal investigation, so it's up to the police."

"I understand." Frank stood up. "In the meantime, Joe and I will ask questions around campus and see if anybody noticed anything unusual. We'll keep you informed."

Joe tucked his notepad away and shouldered his backpack as he stood up.

"I really appreciate you boys getting involved," Jack said earnestly. "I just don't have the staff to patrol the whole campus, especially at night. I need to be able to assure the student body that this was an isolated incident." He accompanied them back to the counter and lifted the flap. "I'll relay your request about Janey's victim report."

"Thanks, Chief. We'll be in touch." Outside, Frank turned to Joe. "Since you have time before your next class, why don't you cruise through the quad and ask some questions? I'll do the same when I get out of my English class. We can meet up at home and compare notes."

"Sounds like a plan."

-o-o-o-o-

The apartment smelled of roasting chicken when Frank walked in. "Umm! That smells really good!"

"I finished my homework early, so I ran over to the store," Joe answered from the kitchen.

Frank dumped his backpack by the living room couch and joined Joe in the kitchen. "Sorry I'm late. I stopped by the office to talk to Doug Matthews. He wanted to hear about the case."

"Is he worried about giving it to a couple of part-timers?"

"No." Frank grinned. "In fact, he was looking for an excuse to stick his nose in. When Jack Colby called him, he was more than glad to offer our services. He told me he wouldn't have hired us in the first place if he didn't think we could do as good a job as any of his full-time employees."

"That's good to hear."

"Do you need any help?"

"Yeah. Could you finish the mashed potatoes? I want to make gravy."

"Yum." Frank kissed the back of Joe's neck. "I love your gravy." He took the pot of boiled potatoes off the stove and poured the water out carefully in the sink. "Are these Yukon Gold?"

"Of course!" Joe chuckled. "You know I like their flavor the best when mashed."

"Unless you're planning to mash in a roasted garlic."

"Drat! I didn't think of that!"

"You're slipping, little brother."

"You can punish me later. I'll obediently hold still for a long, slow spanking."

Frank swatted Joe on the behind. "You're naughty."

"And you love it."

"Yes, I do."

Joe stirred steadily as he added broth to his roux. "So what did Doug say?"

"He said he'd try to get us an interview with Janey Lassiter. He knows the crisis counselor assigned to her case: Bette Hollander. He said he'd ask her if she thought Janey would be ok talking to us."

"Did you tell him it would be all right with us if Ms. Hollander was there during the interview?"

"Yeah." Frank glanced at Joe. "Will you be ok talking to Janey about a sexual assault?"

Joe sighed and nodded. "I think so. I honestly don't think about what happened to me that much anymore. Going to a counselor really helped. And so did you." He smiled affectionately at Frank.

Frank slipped his arms around Joe's waist and hugged him carefully, mindful of Joe's gravy. "I probably should have gotten counseling, too. I had bouts of rage for weeks afterward, even when I wasn't thinking about it. Seeing you get better helped me get over it, though." He released Joe and took a serving bowl out of the cupboard.

"You could still get counseling if you think you need it."

"I know." Frank spooned the mashed potatoes into the bowl. "I just don't want to explain to someone why the thought of anyone touching you makes me crazy."

"There's that." Joe poured the gravy into a tureen he had ready. "There's asparagus in the steamer."

"I'll get it."

Over dinner, the boys compared notes from the day's interviews. There was, not surprisingly, quite a lot of anxiety among the students about the attack. Women students were especially nervous and worried that it was a random assault, because that would mean it might happen again.

"I talked to a couple of guys from a fraternity who said they were going to set up an escort service and post phone numbers for people to call to get someone to walk them home at night," Joe said.

"That's a good idea. They should arrange for drivers, too, for students who live off campus that don't own cars."

Joe grinned. "Or who live too close to make driving practical, like us."

Frank grinned back. "Right." His phone vibrated in his pocket and he started. "Oops! My phone." He pulled it out and glanced at the number. "Oh, it's Doug." He flipped the phone open. "Hello, Doug." He listened for a moment and then gave Joe a thumbs-up. "That's great. We'll be there at 10. Ok. Thanks." He closed the phone. "We have a meeting tomorrow morning with Janey Lassiter at the hospital. She's due to check out tomorrow afternoon. Bette Hollander will be there."

"Great!" Joe started to clear the table.

"I'll do that," Frank said. "You cooked."

"But my homework's all done," Joe pointed out. "Is yours?"

"Well…"

"I want nothing to impede the spanking you owe me. You can finish your homework while I wash the dishes and put away the leftovers."

"Oh?" Frank raised his eyebrows. "Now I owe you a spanking?"

"A long, slow one," Joe reminded him.

"You really are very naughty."

Joe gave him a sensuous smile and waggled his hips. "Naughty boys get the hot guys."


	2. Getting the Details

**Warning:** This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 2: **Getting the Details**

Frank and Joe arrived at the hospital a few minutes before ten and went straight up to the third floor. They stepped off the elevator to find an attractive black woman with neat dreads pulled up into a loose ponytail waiting for them.

"Are you the Hardys?" she asked, holding out a slim hand. "I'm Bette Hollander."

Frank shook her hand. "How do you do? I'm Frank Hardy and this is my brother Joe." Bette shook hands with Joe as Frank continued. "We really appreciate this. Chief Colby of the campus police is pretty anxious about reassuring students that the campus is a safe place."

"I can understand that," Bette said. She inclined her head. "Janey's room is this way." She set off down the hall. "Doug Matthews said he trusts you guys, but I still have to ask that you be careful about the questions you ask. Janey hasn't full internalized the attack yet."

Frank nodded. "I've talked to assault victims before." His eyes unconsciously flicked to Joe. "I'll be careful."

Bette stopped in front of a door. "Here it is." She rapped on the panel and then opened it. "Hi, Janey. We're here."

Janey Lassiter was a pretty girl of average height, with shoulder-length brown hair and large brown eyes in a triangular face. She was dressed in her street clothes and relaxing on the bed with an open magazine in her lap, but she sat up and swung her legs over the side when they entered. "Hi, Bette." She smiled tentatively at the brothers. "I think I've seen you around campus."

Frank offered her his hand. "Frank Hardy," he introduced himself. She took his hand hesitantly and gave it a quick shake.

"Joe," Joe echoed the introduction, also offering his hand.

"Janey," Frank began in a relaxed but semi-formal tone, "The campus police have hired us to talk to students about safety on campus. They want to get students' impressions of how safe they feel. Can you tell us anything about that night?"

Janey laughed weakly. "If you'd asked me about safety a few days ago, I would have said I felt very safe. I mean, I take that path all the time going back to my dorm from the library and never worried about it. It's right in the middle of campus!" She bit her lip. "But it was pretty empty that night. I guess everyone was at the game. In fact, that's mostly what I remember; all the cheering coming from the gym. The guy hit me pretty hard." She touched the back of her head gingerly.

"It's not unusual for assault victims to have difficulty remembering the attack," Bette said.

"It's better if you don't," Joe said quietly. "Clear memories just make the nightmares more graphic."

Bette frowned at him. "Were you the victim of a sexual assault, Joe?"

"Yeah." Joe kept his eyes on Janey's face. "The guy talked to me during the attack, and afterward, if people said certain phrases, it would trigger flashbacks. The crisis counseling really helped me get through that."

Janey's eyes suddenly lost focus. "He smelled familiar!" she exclaimed softly.

"What?!" Frank and Bette said in unison.

Janey looked up, her eyes going round. "He smelled familiar!" she repeated. "I just remembered that, when you talked about having flashbacks! I was pretty out of it, but now I remember thinking the guy smelled familiar when he was lying on me."

"Familiar how?" Frank asked quickly. "Like a cologne?"

"No." Janey shook her head, and then she flushed, her face turning unhappy.

Frank exchanged a look with Joe.

Joe stepped forward, leaning over so he could look into Janey's eyes. "How did he smell familiar?" he asked gently.

"I don't sleep around," Janey answered, her voice wavering, "but I've had a few boyfriends. It was his body scent, not a cologne or anything, that I recognized."

"He was someone you know," Joe said. He straightened up and glanced quickly at Frank. "Probably someone you were intimate with."

"So it wasn't a stranger assault," Frank said.

Janey slid off the bed and stood up. She looked anxiously at Bette. "If you tell the police that, they'll think I'm just some slut who pissed off an old boyfriend! They'll stop working on my case!"

"No they won't," Frank assured her. "You just narrowed down the suspect list. Was physical evidence collected from you?"

Janey blinked uncomfortably and looked away, folding her arms across her stomach. "Yes."

Bette also nodded. "They found semen in her vagina." She put a reassuring hand on Janey's shoulder. "With DNA evidence and a list of the boys you've dated, they should be able to catch who did this pretty quickly. An assault is an assault, Janey, whether you knew the perpetrator or not. The police won't forget that."

Janey looked up, uncertain hope on her face. "You think so? I guess we should go to the police station, then, after I check out. I've only dated three guys at college, but I broke up with my last boyfriend a couple months ago."

"I'll call Detective Rangill and let him know we're coming by with more information," Bette said. She turned to Frank. "Did you have any more questions?"

"No. You've been very helpful, Janey."

Joe briefly touched Janey's arm. "Don't miss your counseling sessions," he advised. "It really does help."

"Thanks," Janey said, her tentative smile returning. "I'll be sure to do that."

Outside the hospital room, Frank gripped Joe's shoulder. "Good job, little brother. I didn't expect to get new evidence from her, but this will really help her case. It will also make Chief Colby happy. If the guy who attacked Janey knew her, it probably wasn't a random assault."

"Yeah."

Frank studied the side of Joe's face. "Did it bring back bad memories, talking about that?"

Joe shook his head. "Not really. I just don't like remembering that someone besides you has ever touched me." He gave Frank a small smile. "I only want you exploring my intimate places," he added softly.

Frank smiled back. "I feel exactly the same way." Back at the car, he leaned on the top before opening the door. "You know, I have a buddy in the coroner's office. I wonder if I could get him to tell me anything about that semen sample."

"What for?"

"I don't know." Frank scratched his head. "I just have this nagging feeling. Janey looked pretty good for a rape victim. There were no bruises on her face or arms that I could see. Sure, the guy practically knocked her out, but still. I would expect there to at least be bruising on her arms where he pinned her down."

Joe frowned. "You think she didn't resist?"

"It's not that." Frank scowled. "Gah! I almost feel like the guy was trying not to touch her."

"During a rape?!"

"That's what's bugging me!" Frank opened the car door. "I wish I could see her evidence photos. I'd really like to see if she has bruising on her thighs."

"We could just ask her," Joe said as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"I don't want to now," Frank replied. "Since she admitted recognizing the guy's scent, if I ask her about bruising, she might think I'm accusing her of bringing it on herself. I don't believe that at all, but if she starts thinking we doubt her, she might stop answering our questions."

"Ah." Joe opened his window and stuck his elbow out, drumming his fingers on the door ledge. "Even if she did know the guy, I think we should talk to some of the other girls in her dorm. She said she broke up with her last boyfriend a few months ago, which means he could have started dating someone else. If he's the kind of guy who takes a breakup poorly, another girl could be at risk."

"Good point. Let's do that this afternoon." Frank pulled out of the hospital parking lot, and the warm breeze blowing in through his open window ruffled his hair. "You should call Doug and tell him what we've learned. I'll drop by Chief Colby's office later and talk to him."

"Ok." Joe pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the office.

Frank listened to his side of the conversation without really paying attention. His mind churned over the few facts he had in the case, but he just did not know enough. He needed to see the police report on Janey.

When Joe hung up, he grinned at Frank. "Guess what. Doug called in a few favors and got us a copy of Janey's police report."

"No way!" Frank stared at him briefly and then quickly turned his eyes back to the road. "I was just thinking that I wanted to see that! Maybe I'll ditch class and go to the office."

Joe laughed. "There's no need to ditch class. Doug said he'd wait in the office until we could get over there. He also said we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on Janey possibly knowing her attacker. He advised us to continue interviewing students, just in case the DNA tests don't pan out."

"Did you tell him we already planned to do that?" Frank asked with a grin.

"I mentioned that we were planning to interview girls from her dorm," Joe replied. "He said that was a good idea."

Frank chuckled. "Your last class gets out at 3:00, right?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, let's plan to meet in front of the dorm around 3:30."

"Ok."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Most of the dorms on campus, and all of the large ones, were coed. The dorm where Janey lived had single-sex floors because rooms on the same floor shared a large, communal bathroom. But the ground floor also had a large common room with a TV, a gym, a laundry room and a mail room. Joe arrived at the dorm a little early, so he took a seat on a couch in the common room to wait for Frank. A girl sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal, wearing a tank top and what looked like pajama bottoms, kept throwing glances at him after he sat down. Finally, she got up and put her bowl on a table before walking over to plop down next to him.

"I don't think I've seen you in here before," she said curiously. She tipped her head to one side so her shoulder length brown hair spilled over one shoulder.

"I don't live in the dorm," Joe replied. "The campus police hired the company I work for to talk to students about safety after the attack on Janey Lassiter."

"Oh! I heard about that!" the girl exclaimed. "It was so creepy when I heard she got attacked on that path near the gym. That's how we all come back from the library."

"Do you go to the library a lot?"

"Sometimes. Not as much as Janey, though. She studies there all the time."

"Do you know her?"

"Sure." The girl dipped her head in a quick nod. "We're not BFFs or anything, but we hang out with some of the same people."

"Is she popular?"

"Pretty popular, I guess."

"Whose bowl is this?" a stern, female voice demanded, and the girl Joe was talking to popped to her feet with a chagrinned expression.

"It's mine, Lois. Sorry!"

The speaker, an older student with dark hair cut very short, scowled. "You know the rules, Kelly. No dishes left in the lounge."

"I didn't leave it," Kelly said with a hopeful grin. "I was just talking to, um…" She looked at Joe. "Did I ask you your name?"

Joe stood up and smiled disarmingly. "No, you didn't." He faced Lois, suspecting she was an RA. "I'm Joe Hardy. I'm a student, but I also work for the Doug Matthews Detective Agency. We were hired by the campus police to interview students about campus safety."

Lois regarded him with a faintly suspicious look on her face. "Seems a little late to be worrying about safety," she said.

"Did anyone express concerns to you prior to the attack on Janey?" Joe asked. "You're an RA here, right?"

"Yes, I'm one of the RAs," Lois replied, lifting her chin. "And actually, it seemed pretty safe until now."

"Kelly said Janey spent a lot of time in the library. Did she have a regular schedule?"

Lois frowned. "Why? Do you think someone was watching her?"

"Not specifically," Frank said smoothly from behind Joe. "But the safety of other students might hinge on whether Janey was targeted at random or not." He inclined his head to Lois. "I'm Frank Hardy, Joe's brother. We're partners at the detective agency."

Kelly's eyes widened. "You're brothers? Do you live on campus?"

"Kelly!" Lois snapped in exasperation.

Kelly bit her lip and ducked her head, but she continued to smile speculatively at the two young men.

Lois glared at her for a moment before turning back to Frank. "Janey spent a lot of time at the library, but so do a lot of the female students. I do myself."

"Was it common for women to walk back from the library alone at night?"

"I tried to get them not to," Lois said. "I've never seen anyone suspicious hanging around; it just seemed like common sense."

"I agree," Frank said with a nod, "but I take it not everyone took your advice."

"No, and Janey was one of the worst. She'd stay at the library until closing and then come back by herself after 11pm." Lois shook her head in disgust. "It was better when she was dating. Then she'd come back earlier so she could go out."

"Has it been a while since she was dating?"

Lois shrugged. "A couple of months, I guess."

"She was dating a freshman!" Kelly added with a giggle. "He was hot, too! I couldn't believe she dumped him! But when basketball season started, he was always at practice and Janey got tired of it."

Joe blinked in surprise. "She was dating a freshman basketball player?"

"Yeah, you know the one. Eric something. He's like the star of the team."

"Eric Jansen?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Joe looked at Frank and tipped his head ever so slightly toward the door. Frank blinked once in response and smiled at Lois. "I think it would be a good idea if you continued to push students to walk in groups at night. There's no point in taking chances before the police have more information." He turned to Joe. "We better get back to the office and make a report."

"Ok."

They started for the door, but Kelly trailed after them. "So, do you guys have girlfriends?"

"Not at the moment," Frank replied, "but with work and school, we don't have a lot of free time."

"That's too bad." Kelly smiled at him wistfully. "If you decide to start looking, keep me in mind." She winked at Joe. "Both of you."

"Um, sure," Joe mumbled. He pushed quickly out the door.

Outside, Frank glanced back once. "I can't believe she hit on both of us at the same time."

"She must be desperate."

"Maybe so," Frank replied. "But you wanted to get out of there for a reason. Did you think of something?"

"Yeah," Joe nodded. "Eric Jansen was hurt during the game the night Janey was attacked. He went to the locker room and never came back." He looked at Frank and drew a deep breath. "The locker room has a rear door that lets out right by the path she was using."

"Ah," Frank lifted an eyebrow. "He's someone she knows, he was nearby, and he had the opportunity."

Joe nodded. "But there's still the why."

Frank was quiet for a moment. "Let's not mention this to anyone. I want to see what the DNA turns up first."

"But if it comes up a match for him," Joe said, "the game gives him a pretty good alibi. After all, what are the odds he would get hurt and be left alone in the locker room right when she was walking by?"

"Pretty remote," Frank acknowledged. "Let's go to the office. I want to see the police report. I feel like there's more to this than we're seeing."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Frank was quiet on the way home from the office. As he had suspected, there was very little bruising on Janey's thighs. It seemed like her attacker had knocked her out to keep her from moving too much, allowing him to minimize how much he touched her. She had abrasions in her vagina consistent with forced penetration, but very little bleeding. "The guy must have a small dick," he mumbled.

"What?" Joe said.

"Janey's attacker," Frank clarified. "He must have a small dick. There was hardly any tearing around her vagina, which you would expect for a girl being forced. But if he had a really small dick, that might explain why he didn't do her much physical damage going in."

"Huh." Joe responded. "We should ask Bette Hollander if there was any sign of lubricant during the examination." He smirked. "I can't say I have experience in this regard, but I've heard that fucking an unprepared person can hurt the guy, too."

"That's true," Frank said. "Remember the first time we did it? We didn't use any lube and we were both rubbed raw afterward."

"Oh, I remember." Joe chuckled. "But it still felt great once I opened up for you."

"I haven't wanted to do it with anyone else since," Frank said, smiling affectionately at Joe. "But that's a good point about the lube. If he used it, that means he planned the whole thing."

"And if he didn't, then we have to go with your small dick theory."

Frank pulled into the apartment driveway and parked in their allotted space. "How much homework do you have?"

"None!"

"How's that possible?" Frank demanded. "I've got homework from three classes!"

"That's what you get for double-majoring," Joe laughed. "The law enforcement classes have a lot less homework. I usually finish it between classes. It's all your poli-sci classes that load on the work."

"This is so unfair."

"Deal. I'll make dinner while you work."

In the apartment, Joe went into the kitchen and Frank settled down at his computer desk. His homework wasn't particularly hard; mostly reading and writing. So he half-listened to Joe bustling about in the kitchen while he worked. The familiar domestic sounds of cooking actually sharpened his concentration rather than distracting him. But the delicious smells that began wafting from the kitchen finally did intrude on his awareness when his stomach started to growl. So he stopped what he was doing and wandered into the kitchen.

"Anything I can do?"

"Why don't you just ask me when dinner will be ready?" Joe chuckled. "Since that's what you really want to know. I can hear your stomach growling."

Frank grinned. "I'm pretty transparent, huh?"

"Totally."

"That smells great. Is that sea bass?"

"Yeah. I marinated it in yogurt and curry powder, among other things. And since fish is such a light meal, I'm serving it with saffron rice and a green salad."

Frank's mouth began to water. "I'll set the table."

"You should open a white wine to go with this. Something dry."

"Right." Once they settled down to eat, Frank eagerly put a morsel of the fish into his mouth, closing his eyes with a sigh of pleasure. "Oh, man, that's good! It just melts in your mouth."

"It did come out rather well," Joe agreed with a contented smile. "Of course, the perfect dessert for a meal like this is slow, deep sex."

"I was thinking sherbet."

Joe grinned wickedly. "I'll put a scoop on my chest for you. You can lick it off."

"That sounds delightfully perverted. I'll take orange sherbet."

"Your wish is my command."

After dinner, Joe said, "Do you mind cleaning up? I want to take a quick shower."

"No problem." Frank cleared the table, put away the leftovers and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Then he got out the sherbet and put a small scoop into a bowl. When he went in the bedroom, he found Joe already out of the shower and lying naked on the bed, his damp hair tousled from the towel and tumbling into his dark eyes. "You look sexy."

Joe stretched seductively. "That was the plan."

Frank sat on the edge of the bed and held the bowl over Joe's chest. "This is going to be cold." Then he quickly turned the bowl over and tapped it against Joe's chest, right between his nipples.

"Eek!" Joe squealed. "That's cold!"

"I said…" Frank laughed.

"So start licking!"

Frank put the bowl on the nightstand and leaned over. He stroked his tongue along the edge of the mound of sherbet, catching the runoff as it trailed under Joe's right nipple. Joe shivered. Frank licked both the mound of sherbet and Joe's chest, catching the streams of melting sherbet before they could run down onto the sheets. When the sherbet was gone, he concentrated his attention on Joe's erect nipples, sliding his hand down to investigate the opening between Joe's legs.

Joe spread his legs with a moan of excitement. "Ah!"

"You're already soft," Frank murmured.

"What did you expect?" Joe moaned. "You've been licking my tits for ten minutes."

"You're very responsive tonight."

"So quit teasing me and take care of my needs!"

"I haven't been teasing you," Frank said. "I've just been warming you up. Now I'll tease you." And he shifted his attention to Joe's extremely erect and leaking member. "There's more wetness I need to lick off."

Joe gasped. "That's just going to cause more wetness!"

Frank listened to Joe's moans of pleasure, adjusting what he was doing to elicit the deepest moans. He was rewarded fairly quickly by Joe's rather wet orgasm.

"Ah!" Joe cried. "I thought you were just going to tease me!"

"I am, apparently," Frank responded. "You're not going down."

"That's because you're still rubbing it!" Joe gasped, lifting his hips eagerly. "I really need you to fuck me now!"

"If you insist." Frank retrieved the lube from the nightstand and squirted a liberal dollop onto his fingers. He slid them into Joe and worked them around, causing Joe to writhe and moan helplessly.

"You're still teasing me!" Joe gasped.

"I just want this to be really good for you."

"It's always good for me!" Joe groaned. He pushed against Frank's fingers. "I need your cock!"

"Very well." Frank moved between Joe's legs and undid his trousers. He lifted Joe's hips so he could enter him while still on his knees and put himself in. Joe groaned and pushed down with his heels, lifting his hips higher. Frank grasped him with both hands and thrust hard, driving himself all the way in. Joe was so ready for it that he took Frank without any resistance.

Joe's head rolled back and his mouth fell open. "Yes!" he cried. "Harder!"

Frank thrust into him eagerly, pounding hard against Joe's bottom. As always, Joe felt so good that Frank immediately forgot about everything except the sheer, delirious pleasure of fucking him. But he nevertheless retained enough presence of mind to make sure Joe climaxed before he allowed the blissful release of orgasm to claim him.

"You're going to need another shower," Frank rasped, noting the evidence of Joe's satisfaction glistening on his torso.

"Tomorrow," Joe wheezed. "I want to sleep now."

Frank pulled out and moved aside so Joe could roll over. Joe liked sleeping on his right side. "I'll take a shower with you in the morning, then."

"That sounds nice," Joe responded sleepily.

Frank pulled the covers up over Joe's shoulders and returned to the living room, zipping up his trousers as he went. He had just a little more homework to finish before he could go to bed, which was just as well. If he got in bed with Joe so soon after sex, he would just want more.


	3. A Suspect?

_**Warning:**__ This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature._

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 3: **A Suspect?**

"Oh, man, we shouldn't take showers together!" Joe said as he jammed his legs into his jeans. "I'm really gonna have to hoof it to make it to class on time."

"I'm sorry," Frank replied. "But I just can't say no to your ass."

Joe grinned. "It was good, though." He zipped his fly and yanked a random tee-shirt over his head.

Frank lifted his eyebrows. "Didn't you wear that yesterday?"

"It doesn't smell." Joe stuck his nose experimentally into an armpit. "Not much, anyway. We need to do laundry. I'm out of clean shirts."

"It's my turn, isn't it?" Frank ran his fingers through his hair and made a face. "I was hoping to drop by the coroner's office this morning. I could do it another day, I suppose, and do laundry instead."

"Nah, you should go," Joe said. "We can do laundry after dinner tonight. It's Friday night. Nobody will be in the laundry room."

"That's true."

Joe flung another shirt on over his tee-shirt but did not bother to button it. "Text me with whatever you find out at the coroner's office." He planted a quick kiss on Frank's mouth and dashed out of the bedroom. "See ya!" he shouted as he vanished out the front door, his backpack slung over one shoulder.

Frank shook his head and smiled. He was really ridiculously fond of Joe. Joe was exceptional as a brother, a lover and a detective. After gathering up his own books and reassembling his backpack, he headed down to their parking space. Since the coroner's office was downtown, he decided to take the car. The coroner's office was in the same building as the main police precinct, so the sign-in was in the same place. Frank rapped on the counter when he arrived and greeted the young policeman on duty with a smile.

"Hey, Bobby, how's things?"

"Frank Hardy! I haven't seen you in a while." Bobby came to the counter. "What's up?"

"I was hoping to poke my head in the coroner's office for a minute and bug Rick. Do you know if he's in?"

"Yeah, he's here." Bobby dragged the log over and dropped a pen into the fold. "Sign in. I'll get you a badge." After Frank signed in, Bobby held out the visitor badge. "We should go out for drinks sometime and catch up. I want to hear how you got that sweet gig with Doug Matthews."

"It's all about who you know, Bobby, you know that."

"Aw man, don't say that!" Bobby shook his head mournfully. "I got no connections. I'll be stuck behind this counter my whole career." He reached over and buzzed the door. "You know the way, right?"

"Yeah." Frank entered the station and immediately took the stairs. The coroner's office was at the rear of the building on the second floor. The door was open when he arrived and a nose-wrinkling blend of chemical and antiseptic smells wafted into the hall. Frank knocked on the open door as he stepped in. "Anybody home?"

A man leaning over a workbench, his face protected by plastic goggles, looked up at the call. He pushed the goggles up onto the top of his head with a wide smile. "Frank! You almost never visit me at work!" Rick Conroy was in his thirties, with a long sharp nose, wide green eyes and long brown hair that he tied back in a ponytail when he was working. "How's it hanging? How's Joe?"

"We're good." Frank entered the room and took a seat on a stool. "I thought the cops told you to keep the door shut so you don't stink up the building."

"The vent fan's broken. I'd asphyxiate." Rick parked it on a neighboring stool. "Let me guess what brings you by. You want to know about the Janey Lassiter assault."

Frank grinned. "That's why I like you, Rick. You're quick."

Rick laughed. "That's me. Well, I can't tell you much. Since nobody died, we haven't been too involved. But I did hear one thing that got me curious."

"What's that?"

"The rapist was sterile."

"What?!" Frank stared.

"Yup." Rick nodded. "The motility in the semen they collected was really low. My friend Keno at the lab said that so soon after ejaculation the sperm should still have been pretty active, but most of the sperm in the sample were dead."

"Wow." Frank frowned thoughtfully. "Was it a good-sized sample?"

"Yeah, pretty big."

"Huh."

"So, why are you looking into this? The girl didn't hire you, did she?"

"No." Frank blinked in surprise. "Why would you think that?"

"Well…" Rick glanced at the open door and then leaned forward, lowering his voice. "She came in yesterday to say she might have known the guy who did it. I overheard a couple of the detectives speculating afterward that maybe it was something other than just a simple assault."

Frank scowled. "Like a lover's quarrel? I don't buy that. She was attacked. And anyway, we were hired by the campus police."

"Oh." Rick sat back. "Well, I'm afraid that's all I know right now. They didn't find any skin or hair samples on the victim; just the semen in her vagina."

"When will the DNA testing be finished?"

"Probably not for another week. They had to send it out to another lab."

"That's a long time."

Rick shrugged. "You know how it is with lab work."

"Are they going to get DNA samples from Janey's old boyfriends?"

"That's the plan, but I don't know when that's happening. If lawyers get involved, it could end up being a real long time."

Frank blew out a breath. "Let's hope that doesn't happen." He stood up. "I appreciate the information, Rick."

"You're welcome." Rick grinned. "Now you owe me. You and Joe can take me and my new girlfriend out for dinner next weekend. I want steak."

"I'm a college student!" Frank exclaimed in mock horror. "I can't afford steak!"

"Get real! I know you're drawing a good salary from Doug Matthews, even if it is part-time." Rick's grin widened. "And didn't you notice I said 'new girlfriend'?"

"Wait, you have _another_ new girlfriend? When did you break up with the last one?"

Rick laughed. "Last week. I met Cynthia while I was drowning my sorrows down at the pub. She's an assistant DA with legs to die for. You'll like her. So next weekend, you're taking us out."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Fine. Next weekend. I'll make a reservation and call you with the time."

"Great!" Rick pulled his goggles back over his eyes. "I'll see you then."

Frank went back downstairs, dropped his badge off with Bobby and returned to his car. "Sterile?" he muttered to himself once he was behind the wheel. "A sterile guy with a tiny dick. Maybe he has issues and that's why he raped her."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Joe had an hour to kill between his English and Criminal Justice classes, so he found a spot on the steps leading into the quad where he could sit and finish his English homework. The day was cool and he thought about running home to grab a jacket, but he was still reading when his phone vibrated once in his pocket, indicating he had a text message. The message was from Frank:

_Interesting news. Rapist was sterile; low motility. Fill you in later._

"That's weird." He put the phone back in his pocket.

"Joe? Joe Hardy?"

Joe looked up in surprise to find Janey Lassiter standing in front of him, her backpack dangling from one hand.

"Hey!" Janey waved her free hand nervously in greeting. "I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"No!" Joe shifted over a little so Janey could sit beside him on the step. "Are you back in school already?"

"Yeah." Janey sat down, tucking her arms under her bent knees to hold her skirt closed. "I didn't want to get behind. And sitting around in my room…" she trailed off.

"It just gets you thinking."

She nodded quickly and looked down. "I really appreciate you telling me about what happened to you. I didn't think stuff like that happened to guys."

"It's not common," Joe said quietly. "How are you holding up?"

"Ok, I guess." She shrugged. "My folks wanted me to come home, but then they'd just fuss over me and stuff."

"Were they here?"

"My mom came yesterday, but she could only stay a little while. She left this morning." She was quiet for a moment. "When I talked to the police yesterday, they didn't seem surprised." She frowned unhappily. "It was just the way I thought they'd react."

"Bette Hollander won't let them drop it, Janey," Joe said seriously. "Trust her."

"But there's something else now!" Janey dropped her forehead onto her knees. "I met this guy a couple weeks ago. I dropped my notebook and he helped me pick up the papers. He invited me for coffee and I gave him my number. I've seen him a couple times since then." She shivered. "He called me that night. He said he was getting off work and asked me to meet him. That's where I was going when it happened. To see him."

"Did you tell the police about him?"

Janey shook her head. "No. The truth is I didn't remember about that until this morning, when I was checking my phone for missed calls. There were a couple from him and the time would have been right when…" She swallowed. "Anyway, I never slept with him."

"You should probably tell the police anyway."

"I guess." She swallowed again. "Did you know the guy who attacked you?"

"I knew him, but he wasn't a friend or anything." Joe studied Janey's profile. Since she seemed willing to talk, he decided to ask a risky question. "Janey, are there bruises on your thighs?"

She started. "What?"

"Do you have bruises on your thighs? On the insides?"

"A few. They're not very bad, though." She regarded him worriedly. "Why do you ask?"

Joe smiled reassuringly. "I was just thinking that you were fortunate he didn't beat you up too badly."

"Most people seem to think it means I just didn't struggle," she said bitterly.

"I don't know why anyone would have expected you to when he nearly gave you a concussion." Joe touched her lightly on the shoulder. "Don't worry about what other people think. You didn't do anything wrong. You did not ask to be raped."

She returned his gaze in silence for a moment and then drew a deep breath. "You're right. I'm not going to worry about what anyone else thinks." She stood up, brushing off the back of her skirt. "I'll tell Bette about that guy I met. If she thinks I should tell the police, I'll do that." She picked up her backpack. "Thanks for listening."

"You're welcome. I was glad to." Joe watched her walk away and then pulled out his phone. Frank was probably on his way to class by this time, so a text would have to do. He tapped in the message about Janey's bruising, or relative lack there of, and added that there was more they needed to talk about later. This new guy might be nothing but a nice guy trying to pick up a pretty girl, but something nagged at Joe. Even though she had not slept with him, he was someone Janey knew. "Damn!" Joe muttered. "This is getting more complicated!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Over dinner at the local steakhouse a week later with Rick Conroy and his girlfriend, it was not surprising that the conversation turned to the Lassiter assault. While Frank and Rick talked shop though, Cynthia, seated next to Joe at the small square table, was mostly silent.

"Should we change the topic of conversation?" Joe asked her quietly. "Are you likely to be assigned to her case if a suspect is caught?"

"Oh no!" Cynthia shook her head. "I'm too junior. This case will probably go to one of the senior attorneys in the office." She leaned closer and favored Joe with a warm smile. "You seem pretty young to be working as a detective already. Aren't you still in college?"

"Yes, but we've been doing investigations since we were kids. Our father is a private investigator."

"Wow!" She placed her hand on his where it rested on the table. "You must be very dedicated."

"I guess you could say that." Trying not to make it seem obvious, Joe slipped his hand out from under hers and picked up his knife. "What about you? Are either of your parents attorneys?"

Cynthia's lips turned down in a small pout. "They both are."

"How's your steak, Cynthia?" Rick said abruptly. He raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly.

"It's fine." Cynthia quickly cut a small morsel and put it in her mouth.

Rick grinned and returned to his conversation with Frank. Joe resumed eating, but Cynthia did not flirt with him again.

Later, after saying goodbye to Cynthia and Rick, Frank shook his head. "I can't believe she hit on you in front of Rick like that. You really do seem to attract people."

"It's annoying!" Joe grumbled.

Frank put an arm around Joe's shoulders. "You attract me."

Joe chuckled. "That's not annoying. How long have they been dating, anyway?"

"A couple of weeks. Apparently, she's not too committed to the relationship yet."

"Apparently."

Frank put his lips next to Joe's ear. "So, you want to go home and have hot, wet sex?"

"Absolutely."

Back at the apartment, Frank patted Joe on the bottom. "You want to do it in the shower?"

"Ooh, you're feeling kinky tonight!" Joe giggled. "You can warm the lube under the hot water."

"Who's feeling kinky?" Frank chuckled. He undid Joe's jeans and put his hand in. "Oh my! You seem to be anticipating me." He squeezed and Joe moaned.

"Oh yeah, do that again!"

Frank squeezed again and then rubbed his hand up and down. "I think I need to take your clothes off."

"I do, too."

Frank happily stripped Joe out of his clothes. Then he pulled Joe close and kissed him deeply. "You know, it actually gets me hot when people flirt with you. It makes me start thinking about touching you and licking you and sticking parts of my body into yours."

"Oh, really?" Joe draped his arms around Frank's neck. "So does that mean I need to start telling you about all the people who try to pick me up everyday?"

"Every day?!"

Joe grinned and nodded. "Yup. It's not just girls, either. Guys hit on me, too."

"I'm gonna make you start wearing a burka," Frank growled. He nuzzled Joe's neck.

Joe laughed. "Get undressed. I'm getting in the shower." He pulled himself out of Frank's arms and went into the bathroom. He turned on the water and stuck his hand in the flow to wait for it to reach the desired temperature. Frank came in just as he was stepping inside.

"Did you get the lube?" Frank asked.

"It's already in here." Joe caught Frank's hand and pulled him into the shower. "Remember, we did it in here this morning."

"How could I forget?" Frank pushed Joe up against the wall and kissed him passionately. "You are so damn sexy! Turn around." Joe turned around and leaned against the wall. Frank snagged the lube out of the basket hanging over the side of the shower and held it under the faucet. "It does feel nice when the lube is warmed ahead of time." He squirted a large dollop onto his fingers and slid them into Joe.

Joe moaned and lifted his hips. "Deeper!" Frank worked his fingers in farther and Joe began to writhe. "Oh, yes! I like that!" Frank kept fingering him, periodically adding a little more lube, until Joe was panting helplessly. "Oh, god!" Joe groaned. "I'm really, really ready!"

"I can tell," Frank said. He put the lube back and caught Joe by the waist. "Turn back around." When Joe was facing him, Frank slipped his hands under Joe's bottom and lifted him. Joe wrapped his legs around Frank's waist and put his arms around his neck. Frank pushed him up against the wall so he could free one hand to put himself in. Then he held Joe in his arms and thrust with his hips, driving himself in deeply.

Joe's head rolled back and he closed his eyes. "Go faster! You'll go in deeper."

Frank complied, pounding his hips against Joe's bottom eagerly. Joe gasped with joy. The warm water sluicing over his skin while Frank fucked him enhanced the pleasure. It flowed down his chest and between his legs, getting Frank nice and wet as he plunged in. In this position, Joe could not really help; all he could do was hold on and get pounded. But Frank was extremely strong and had no trouble holding him up while they screwed. So Joe just closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of getting deeply and thoroughly fucked. He climaxed twice before Frank was satisfied.

After his orgasm, Frank kissed Joe soundly. "That was nice. We should finish in bed and not waste anymore water."

"Finish?!" Joe exclaimed. "You haven't had enough?"

"Of you? Never."

They turned off the water and moved to the bedroom, toweling themselves dry as they went. Joe crawled onto the bed on his hands and knees and waggled his bottom at Frank. "I suppose there's no reason not to keep going, since it's the weekend."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Frank said. He walked onto the bed on his knees and caught Joe by the hips. "So I'll just start here." He put himself back in and pushed all the way in slowly. "Ah!"

"Umm!" Joe moaned. He slumped down onto his elbows. "Go slow. I want to savor it."

"Ok." Frank fucked Joe slowly, sliding in and out with a deep, steady rhythm. Eventually, though, he began moving faster. "I need to finish!" he groaned. "I'm really hard."

"Go ahead," Joe gasped. "I've been on the edge for awhile now."

It did not take long for them both to climax and when it was over, Frank collapsed on the bed beside Joe. "That was great. I really love you."

"I love you, too." Joe stretched out and draped an arm across Frank's chest. "Do you need to do homework tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. I'm going to do some housekeeping, but I'll try not to bug you."

Frank's phone rang and he groaned. "What now? It's late!" He rolled Joe over and reached across him so he could retrieve his phone from the nightstand. "It's Doug!" He clicked the answer button and held the phone to his ear. "Hey, Doug, what's up? What?!" He sat up abruptly and listened in silence. "Ok, thanks for letting us know. Should we come in tomorrow?" He listened some more. "All right. We'll see you Monday." He hung up and stared down at Joe. "They got a positive DNA match. They arrested Eric Jansen an hour ago."


	4. Airtight Alibi?

_**Warning:**__ This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature. Happy Valentine's Day!_

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 4: **Airtight Alibi?**

Eric Jansen's arrest was the talk of the campus on Monday. Few people believed he could have committed the crime because everyone knew he was playing in the basketball game the night Janey was attacked. Frank eavesdropped unabashedly on the sometimes strident conversations going on all around him on the subject. Heading into the quad after his last class, he paused near a group of students; two men and two women.

"There's no way he could have done it!" one young man nearly shouted, his face red with indignation.

"But he did leave the game," the other male student said reasonably. "And he was left alone in the locker room."

"I heard about that," the first young man responded dismissively. "The trainer shouldn't even have left him. He could have had a concussion!"

The two young women listening to the argument had frowns on their faces. At this last statement, one of the girls spoke up angrily.

"Oh, so his supposed concussion trumped Janey's documented one? All he needed was stitches for a cut! The trainer left him alone with an icepack to stop the bleeding because he _didn't_ have a concussion!"

"That doesn't mean he promptly ran outside looking for some girl to attack!" the young man retorted hotly.

"They found his semen in her vagina!" the girl shot back. "Explain that! You men are always making excuses for each other!" She looked like she was going to slap him but her friend grabbed her arm.

"Let's go! These guys are a waste of air!" She dragged her friend away.

"I'm not!" the second fellow called after them, but he was ignored.

"There's no reasoning with girls," the first guy grumbled. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and slouched away.

"Well, you weren't being very reasonable," the remaining young man said to his retreating back. He glanced at Frank, who had not made much of an effort to hide the fact that he was listening. "So what do you think?"

Frank shrugged. "I'm trying not to have an opinion."

"That's probably the safest way to go," the young man agreed sagely, and he trudged off.

Frank pursed his lips. The campus was pretty polarized over the incident. He wondered who had leaked the information about the DNA evidence, which was pretty damning. He glanced at his watch. Joe's last class should have ended by now. They had planned to meet in the quad and then go to the office to see Doug.

"Frank!"

Frank turned at the shout to see Joe trotting toward him. He waved.

"Man!" Joe exclaimed when he reached him. "Have you been listening to people? It's crazy. I saw two guys just about get into a fight."

Frank nodded. "It's bad. Someone leaked the DNA evidence, so everyone knows Eric's semen was found on Janey. But then, everyone knows Eric was playing in the game that night, too, giving him a pretty good alibi."

"A lot of people don't trust DNA evidence," Joe said. "With his alibi, some folks are saying that the lab work was messed up."

"I heard that, too."

"We should get over to the office," Joe continued. "I want to hear what Doug has to say."

"Yeah, me too."

Because they planned to go to the office right after class, they had driven to school that morning. By car, it only took ten minutes to get to the agency. The receptionist, Joann, who was actually Doug's cousin, greeted them with a grim smile when they arrived.

"Hi, guys." Joann put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone she was holding. "Go on in. Doug's expecting you."

They went past Joann's desk to Doug's office in back. The door was open, so they just walked in. Doug was also on the phone and he waved them into seats. He mouthed "this will just be a minute" as they sat down.

"Thanks, Randy," Doug said into the phone. "I'll be in touch. Right. Goodbye." He hung up and leaned back in his chair. "I bet you already know there's been a leak."

"Yes, we do," Frank said. "Everyone seems to know about the DNA evidence."

Doug nodded. "That's going to make it real hard to find an impartial jury if it comes to that. But here's the thing," he leaned forward and folded his arms on the desk. "Jansen insists he's innocent. He swears he never left the locker room until the trainer took him to the emergency room for stitches. Of course, there's no evidence now, but several people said there were bloody towels all over the place, and that Jansen was still bleeding when he was taken to the hospital."

"If he was still bleeding," Joe spoke up immediately, "he'd have gotten blood on Janey. But they didn't find any blood on her, not even her own except where her labium was torn."

"That's right." Doug smiled at Joe's quick response. "Which means there's a chance he really didn't do it. But with evidence suggesting it was his semen in her vagina that may be mighty hard to prove."

"But you want us to look into it anyway," Frank said.

"Yup. Jansen's a scholarship student. His parents don't have any money, so his case has gone to the public defender's office. The lawyer assigned to him is Alison Lewinsky. Alison and I go way back, so she's asked for my help in the investigation." Doug grinned. "But it's pro bono for us, so I decided to put my two cheapest investigators on it, which means you two."

Frank grinned back. "Thanks for thinking of us. Is Jansen still in jail?"

"Yeah. Alison's at court right now trying to get him out on his own recognizance. The DA wants ten thousand dollars bail because of the seriousness of the crime. I suspect they'll settle for something in between and she'll get him out on bond. So I want you two to get over there. I told Alison to expect you. But look," his face became very serious, "I don't want you to just prove Jansen innocent. You need to find out who did it. Someone raped that girl and she deserves justice if it turns out it wasn't Jansen."

Frank and Joe both nodded. "You can count on us, Doug."

"Good. I want regular reports."

"Yes, sir."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The county jail was in a plain brick structure immediately adjacent to the county courthouse. The main police precinct was across the street, so there were several police cars parked in the angled slots on both sides of the street. Frank found a space about a block down from the jail and they both dug through their pockets to find coins for the meter.

"Why is it that the cops don't have to feed the meters?" Joe complained. "They're taking up half the spaces. The town's losing revenue."

Frank chuckled. "Their parking lot's being renovated. They don't have enough room for all the cars right now."

"That's not much of an excuse."

They walked up to the jail and went inside. There was a metal detector immediately inside the entrance and a bored looking sheriff watched impassively as they stepped through it. The lobby was fairly small. A single service window for visitors faced them. A locked door on their right gave admittance to the jail itself. They walked up to the service window.

"Afternoon," Frank said to the female clerk inside. "Has Eric Jansen posted bail yet?"

"And you are…?" the middle-aged clerk responded. She eyed the boys with an expression that was both suspicious and curious.

"Frank and Joe Hardy," Frank responded. He pulled out his agency-issued ID. "We were hired by the public defender's office."

The woman examined his ID carefully and then pulled a thick log book toward her. She squinted at the page. "He's still in court," she said. "You can wait over there." She pointed her chin at a pair of benches beside the wall opposite the door.

"Thanks."

The boys parked themselves on the bench to wait. After half-an-hour, a man in an expensive leather jacket came in.

"Hey, Timmy!" the man said as he handed the sheriff his briefcase before stepping through the detector.

"How ya doin', Mr. Best?" the sheriff responded. He popped the briefcase open and quickly searched it. "Got another bail?"

"That's right." Mr. Best accepted his briefcase back. "That Jansen kid. I just got a call." Frank and Joe exchanged a look. "Business has been pretty slow lately. Too many rich people getting arrested." He laughed and the sheriff laughed, too. Mr. Best went to the service window. "Hey, Betty! You're looking very nice today. New haircut?"

The clerk, Betty, flushed and quickly smoothed her hair. "You're such a flatterer, Mr. Best!" she giggled. She leaned over her log book. "Eric Jansen hasn't come down yet, but you can go on in." She buzzed the door and the lock clicked loudly.

Mr. Best rapped his knuckles on the counter. "Thanks, Betty." He disappeared into the jail. Twenty minutes later, he reappeared with Eric Jansen and a dark-haired woman in an attractive, dark blue business suit. "It's a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Jansen," he said. He offered Eric his hand. "Good luck."

Eric shook his hand uncertainly. His face was pale and he licked his lips worriedly.

"Let me know if you need anything else, Alison," Mr. Best said to the woman.

"Will do." Alison Lewinsky's voice was deeper than one might expect in a woman, but her throaty contralto was quite pleasant.

When Mr. Best was gone, Frank and Joe stood up and approached the two. "Ms. Lewinsky? Doug Matthews sent us," Frank said. He held out his hand.

Alison clasped his hand and gave it a firm shake. "You're Frank and Joe Hardy?" At Frank's nod, she smiled. "Great! I was hoping you'd be here." She half-turned to include Eric in the conversation. "This is Eric Jansen, my client. Eric, Frank and Joe are from the private investigator's office. They'll be working on your case. You need to answer their questions as honestly as you answer mine, ok?"

Eric looked at them and his brows pulled together. "Sure thing, Ms. Lewinsky." He sounded hopeless as he spoke.

"Now, Eric," Alison said, "I told you. Don't give up before we've even started. We'll figure this thing out."

"Yeah, ok." Eric nodded, but his shoulders slumped and his voice echoed with resignation.

Alison sighed and turned back to Frank. "Let's go to my office. I'll go over what we know so you can get started."

"All right."

The public defender's office was on the third floor of the country courthouse. The office had five full-time attorneys and all of them were busy. Alison led them into her cluttered office with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about the mess. I'm in the middle of three cases and now I've got this one, too." She waved them into seats. "First of all, how much do you know?"

"Quite a lot, actually," Frank said. "Doug's filled us in pretty thoroughly."

"Good." Alison plopped a manila folder in the middle of her desk and opened it. "First of all, I'm sending the DNA samples to another lab to have the results double-checked. Since that's the only thing tying Eric to the assault, I want to make absolutely sure there were no mistakes. But it's going to take awhile to get the new results, so in the meantime, I would like you to check up on the movements of the other boys who were implicated. Also, given that the information implicating boys known to the victim is pretty tenuous, you should interview other female students about suspicious characters hanging around campus."

Joe started to open his mouth, but Frank touched his hand.

"Now, I've talked to the college," Alison continued, "and they're going to allow Eric to stay in his dorm and continue taking classes, but for the moment he's suspended from the basketball team." Eric flinched. "Since I understand you are both students on campus as well, I'd like you to keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get hassled."

"Of course."

She closed the folder. "That's it for now." She plucked a business card from a holder on her desk. "Call me directly if you learn anything. My cell phone's on there." She looked at Eric. "Don't get discouraged, Eric. We can beat this."

Eric nodded silently.

Alison looked around her desk. "Ok. I've got to get back to court for another case. I'll talk to you in a few days, Eric."

Eric nodded again and pushed glumly to his feet. Frank and Joe also rose. Outside the courthouse, Eric hunched his shoulders and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I didn't do it, you know," he said dejectedly. "I haven't talked to Janey since we broke up, but we were still friends. I'd never do something like that to her."

Frank gripped his shoulder. "I believe you. But proving it isn't going to be easy. We'll need your complete cooperation."

"I understand."

"Come on," Frank said. "We'll give you a lift back to campus."

Eric slid into the back seat of the car and slumped back against the headrest. He stared out the window as Frank backed out of the parking space.

Joe turned around in his seat so he could watch Eric's face. "When did you and Janey start dating?"

"At the beginning of the semester," Eric said. "But we only went out for a couple of months. I started practicing with the team almost right away and she got upset that I was hardly spending any time with her."

"Were you sexually intimate?"

Eric flinched, and his eyes flicked quickly to Joe's face and then away. "Yeah."

"Whose idea was that?"

"Uh, well, hers, I guess." Eric mumbled the answer, his face flushing.

"Were you practicing safe sex?"

"Yeah!" Eric nodded quickly. "She was real insistent about that. She even had her own pack of condoms just in case."

Joe glanced at Frank and Frank pursed his lips. Joe turned back to Eric. "Were you two exclusive while you were dating?"

"I was." Eric's flush deepened when he realized how that made Janey sound and he quickly added, "She was too, I'm pretty sure. I mean, that's why she said she dumped me. Because I was never around and she liked it regular." He sat up suddenly, dismay washing over his face as he realized that sounded even worse. He grabbed the back of Joe's seat. "She's not a slut!" he said. "Janey's a nice girl! I mean that!"

"I know," Joe assured him. "We've talked to her."

Eric slumped back. "I haven't. I was going to but… We had some away games and…" he trailed off and looked back out the window. "I guess I can't now." He covered his face with his hand. "This is going to ruin everything. If I can't play, I'll lose my scholarship. I'll be back bagging groceries at the supermarket."

"Like Ms. Lewinsky said, Eric, don't give up," Frank said firmly. "You're innocent until proven guilty."

"But the DNA evidence…" Eric began.

"Don't think about that," Frank said. "I'm sure Ms. Lewinsky already told you not to talk to anyone but her and us. That's important, so don't forget. But you need to be completely honest with us. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Then there's something I need you to do."

"What's that?"

"I want you to give a semen sample to the forensic lab. It has to be fresh."

"What?!" Eric stared in confusion. "Why?"

"I'll tell you why after you provide the sample. I need to make some arrangements first. I'll call you when I want you to go in. Do you have a cell phone?"

"Yeah."

"Give Joe the number and he'll give you ours. When was the last time you had sex?"

"Uh..." In the act of pulling out his cell phone, Eric's cheeks turned red again and he licked his lips. "October."

"And that was while you were still dating Janey?"

"Yeah."

Frank pulled to the side of the road and stopped. "This is as close as I can get to your dorm. Remember: don't talk to people about the case. And call us if you need help."

"I will." After exchanging phone numbers with Joe, Eric slid out of the car. "Um, thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll be in touch," Frank replied.

Joe watched Eric walk away, his expression thoughtful. "You know, I think he was hiding something just then."

"When?"

"When you asked him when he last had sex. I think he lied."

"Oh, really?" Frank stared speculatively after Eric. "Why would he lie about something like that, do you suppose?"

"I don't know." Joe turned to Frank. "So you want to check the motility of his sperm."

"Yup." Frank looked over his shoulder to check for traffic and then pulled away from the curb. "If he has low motility and the new lab tests come back positive for him again, I don't think he has any chance of proving he didn't do it."

"And if his motility is normal?"

"In that case," Frank smiled grimly, "we have to figure out how someone managed to collect a load of his semen and inject it into Janey, and why he or she didn't keep it properly frozen before use."

"And why anyone would want to do that in the first place," Joe added. "And who was really the intended victim of the attack? Janey or Eric?"

Frank nodded. "Good question. Let's check in with Doug real quick. We can have him call Alison about arranging for Eric's semen sample."

"We'll have to tell her why we want it."

"I know. But if she doesn't already know about the low motility in the sample collected from Janey, she should."

"That's true."

The meeting with Doug was brief. After explaining about the semen sample, Doug agreed to make the arrangements with Alison and let them know when to have Eric go in. But since it was close to quitting time, he walked them to the door as they were leaving. "So what's your gut tell you on this one?" he asked.

Frank grimaced. "I think he's innocent, but it might be hard to prove."

"I'm worried that Janey might think we're working against her," Joe said. "After all, we started out investigating her case and now we're working in Eric's behalf."

"But those are not necessarily conflicting goals," Doug pointed out. "If you can find out who did it while proving Eric innocent, they both win."

Joe nodded but said nothing.

Back in the car, Frank studied his face. "Should we tell Doug about the assault on you? I can tell the thought of hurting Janey really bothers you."

Joe sighed and shook his head. "No, it's ok. I don't want him to think I might be biased. And he's right. If we get to the bottom of this, it will work out all right for both of them." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Let's stop at the store. We don't have anything for dinner."

"Sure thing."

When they got back to the apartment after stopping at the grocery store, Frank shooed Joe out of the kitchen. "You make dinner ninety percent of the time. It's my turn. You go watch TV or something. I assume, as usual, you have no homework."

Joe grinned. "Today, I actually have a writing assignment I need to finish. But it will only take fifteen minutes. Are you sure you don't want me to cook?"

"Go," Frank ordered. He pointed toward the living room. "You want the chicken fried or broiled?"

"Broiled, please. And can you make potato stir-fry? With onions and garlic?"

"All right. I'll put broccoli in it, too. We need something green."

"Yum!" Joe went into the living room to finish his homework, but the delicious smell of the broiling chicken and the simmering stir-fry eventually pulled him back into the kitchen. "Is it ready yet?"

"Almost. Homework done?"

"Yes, sir." Joe leaned over Frank's shoulder to gaze into the pan as he stirred the potatoes. "That looks great. And it smells even better. I'll set the table." The broiled chicken was spicy and savory, and the skin was nicely browned and crispy. Paired with the potato stir-fry, it made a most satisfactory meal. When he was finished, Joe sat back and patted his stomach contentedly. "Good meal. I'm ready to vegetate in front of the TV now."

"Sounds nice," Frank said. "But you get to clean up. I have homework to do."

"Drat!" Joe grumbled good-naturedly. So while Frank did his homework in the living room, Joe cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. Then he plopped in front of the TV and turned it on. "I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"No." Frank did not look up from his textbook.

Joe settled back on the couch and surfed through the channels without really paying any attention. He finally settled on the Discovery Channel for no particular reason and watched until Frank put his books away and joined him.

"What's this?" Frank asked.

"Doesn't matter," Joe replied. "I'm not watching anymore."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, now that you're here, I want to have sex."

"Just like that?"

"What do you think I've been waiting for?" Joe snuggled up close to Frank and kissed him soundly. "We didn't have time for sex this morning, so it's been almost twenty-four hours since you fucked me last. That's a long time."

"Oh, really?" Frank laughed.

"I'm a teenage boy," Joe pointed out, licking Frank insistently behind his ear. "I have insatiable needs." He rubbed the front of Frank's jeans.

"You're a very naughty boy," Frank said a little breathlessly.

"Yeah, and I want you to be naughty, too."

"If you insist." Frank pushed Joe down on the couch and unzipped Joe's pants. He put his hand in and gripped Joe firmly. "You started this," he said as Joe groaned aloud.

"I know, but I don't mind if you finish it."

"Very well." Frank took his time undressing Joe. He fondled, kissed and licked Joe pretty much everywhere as he went about it, which was part of the reason why it took so long to get Joe completely naked. Then he put Joe's heels up on his shoulders and moved in close to his bottom. "Ready?"

"Oh, yeah!" Joe moaned. "Enjoy yourself."

"I always do." Frank put himself in with a gasp of pleasure. He sat still for a moment, mainly to avoid coming right away, and then began to move in and out slowly. Joe lifted his hips, moaning softly. Frank leaned over a little and started moving faster, pushing deeper and deeper into Joe. Joe's head rolled back and he gasped aloud through his open mouth. Frank pounded away at him until Joe climaxed with a cry of joy. Frank shuddered and his back arched as he came, too. After a moment, he looked down at Joe. "So, insatiable little brother, is that enough, or do you want more?"

Joe smiled at him. "What do you think?"

Frank shook his head and smiled back. "All right, then. Time for round two."


	5. Digging Deeper

_**Warning:**__ This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature. _

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 5: **Digging Deeper**

On Wednesday, Joe came out of his economics class to find Frank leaning against the wall waiting for him. "Is something wrong?" he asked quietly.

"I got a message from Alison," Frank responded, keeping his voice low. "She just got copies of evidence collected by the police when they searched Eric's dorm room after his arrest. There's something she wants us to see. Can you go over there now?"

"I have an hour before my next class. Do you think we'll be done by then?"

"I don't know, but Alison sounded worried."

Joe nodded. "Then let's go. If I'm late, I'm late."

They hurried out of the building and raced home to get Frank's car. They drove as quickly as possible over to the county courthouse and jogged up the stairs to the third floor after checking in with the sheriff on duty in the lobby.

Alison was in her office when they arrived, pawing through a filing cabinet. "Oh, good, you're here!" She closed the drawer and turned to pick up a folder from her desk. "I'm not sure what to make of this. These are copies of pictures police took as evidence from Eric's room. The pictures were printed on plain paper, so they probably came from a digital camera."

Frank took the folder and carefully flipped it open. Inside were several sheets of paper containing copies of photographs of Janey Lassiter. The shots were all taken around campus and clearly without Janey's knowledge. She was never looking directly into the camera and most of the shots appeared to have been taken from a distance with a zoom lens.

"These were in Eric's room?"

"Yes."

"Did you ask him about them?"

"Not yet." Alison frowned. "I know Eric and Alison were dating earlier in the school year. But you'll notice that whoever took the pictures has the date function turned on. The dates are all recent. They would have been taken after the two broke up."

"Assuming whoever took the pictures didn't program the wrong date into the camera," Joe said.

Alison looked at him. "That seems like a lot of work. Most people don't even know how to program the date in their digital cameras."

"But if you do," Joe said, "setting it wrong would be as simple as setting it right, especially if you want to mislead someone about when a picture was taken." He held one of the sheets up close, examining the photograph carefully. "That's really good image quality. I don't think this picture was taken in zoom format. I think this print is cropped."

"What?" Alison took the page from him and squinted at it. "How can you tell? It looks like an ordinary 8x10."

"Low-resolution cameras start to blur pretty quickly when they zoom in. This image isn't blurred, so it's either a high-resolution camera or its not zoomed. Again with low-resolution, if you try to print it too large, you get red-blue rainbow effects on the print. Note that there's none of that on this print. But the main reason I think it's cropped is the size of the date image. It's way too big for the size of the print, which means the image this picture was made from is larger than what we're seeing. But since the quality is so good, it means the original image is fairly high-resolution; probably over ten megapixels."

Alison stared. "You can tell all that just from looking at the picture?"

Frank smiled. "Trust Joe, Ms. Lewinsky. He knows his technology. But these pictures make it look like Eric was stalking her. Is that what you're thinking?"

"Yes." Alison frowned again. "And that's what the police think." She went behind her desk and sat down. "I've arranged for Eric to give a semen sample at the forensic lab tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to get my new DNA tests back from the second lab until next week sometime, so in the meantime, I want to start throwing doubt on the existing DNA evidence, and your motility test is a good way." She drummed her fingers on her desk. "Eric's a nice kid and I want to believe him, but I need something to work with. Right now I've got nothing but his word."

"We're doing our best, Ms. Lewinsky," Frank assured her. "What time should we bring Eric to the lab?"

"Around 2pm should be good."

"All right." Frank handed back the folder of pictures and he and Joe left Alison's office. They did not speak on the way back to the car, but once safely inside, Frank turned to Joe. "I want to talk to Eric about those pictures."

Joe nodded. "Me too. I'd also like to have a look at his camera, if he has one."

They drove back to campus and went to Eric's dorm. Because he was on an athletic scholarship, Eric was housed in a dorm reserved primarily for athletes. The building had two wings, one side for male students and the other side for female students. The wings shared a common lobby and recreation area. Joe and Frank entered the lobby, which was utterly devoid of tables or chairs. Bulletin boards hung on three walls covered with announcements, but that was it. An open window behind a waist-high counter in the remaining wall, just to the left of the door, served as a check-in area.

A female student with short, straight black hair sat behind the counter, watching them expectantly. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Frank replied. "We're here to see Eric Jansen."

"Oh!" The girl's cheeks flushed.

"Is he in?"

"Um… yes, I think so, but…"

Frank pulled out his official ID. "We're working with his representation," he said in a confidential tone. "We're just here to ask him a few questions."

"Oh, I see!" she brightened and some of the flush left her cheeks. She leaned out through the window and pointed. "Go through that door there. Eric's on the second floor, room 210."

"Thank you." Frank slid his ID back into his pocket and led the way through the indicated door. The door led into a hallway leading along the length of the wing, the doors to the first floor rooms on either side, but immediately to their left was a stairway. They went up to the second floor and proceeded down the hall to room 210.

Eric answered Frank's knock quickly, a look of apprehension on his face. When he saw them, his shoulders slumped and the apprehension melted into resignation. "Come in," he said faintly and stepped aside so they could enter. He closed the door quietly behind them. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Frank said. "But we've just been to see Ms. Lewinsky and there's a new area of concern."

"What?" The apprehension crashed back onto Eric's face.

"The police found photographs of Janey when they searched your room. There's evidence the pictures were taken after the two of you stopped dating. Do you own a digital camera?"

"Uh, yeah." Eric's face went pale.

"Did the police take it?"

Eric blinked several times. "I… I don't think so. Um…" He looked around in confusion. "My mom gave me the camera as a graduation present. I brought a whole bunch of stuff with me when I moved here and then never unpacked it. I think the camera's in there." He went to his closet as he spoke. Eric lived in a single, so the room was fairly small. Like many students, he had removed the closet door to save space, and the floor of the closet was a jumbled mess that spilled out into the room.

"Did the police make this mess searching your place?" Joe asked.

"No." Eric kept his back to them as he answered, but they could still hear the embarrassment in his voice. "I'm not the neatest guy around." He rummaged through the closet, tossing aside rumpled clothes, balled up bedsheets, scraps of paper and other detritus. He straightened with his hands on his hips. "Hm. It's not in there." He poked around on the closet shelf for a few minutes and then moved to his dresser. After rummaging through the dresser drawers and dumping even more clothes on the already messy floor, he finally started digging through a pile of what appeared to be dirty laundry in a corner. But underneath the laundry were a couple of partially collapsed boxes, one of which was empty. The other proved to contain a handful of things, most of it stale food items. But underneath a crushed box of molding crackers was the camera. "Aha!" Eric exclaimed, smiling for the first time. "Here it is!" He held the camera out to Joe and then his face fell again. "I guess this doesn't help, does it?" He sank down on the bed and hung his head.

"Not necessarily," Joe said. "This is a five megapixel camera."

"Yeah, so?"

Joe smiled. "So it actually may help quite a lot. Are there any pictures in here?"

"A couple. I took some at graduation."

Joe turned on the camera and went into Review mode. A half-dozen typical graduation pictures of smiling kids in caps and gowns was all the camera contained. "Have you printed any of these pictures?"

Eric's expression turned sheepish. "No, I don't know how. I'm not very technical. That's why I don't use it much. It seems stupid to take pictures when I don't know how to get them out of the camera."

"So you don't have a picture printer?"

"What's that?"

Joe looked at Frank. "Do you mind if we take your camera for evidence?"

"No."

"Thanks." Joe slid the camera into his pocket.

"Are you free tomorrow afternoon, Eric?" Frank asked.

"What for?" Eric's look of apprehension immediately returned.

"We have an appointment to take you in for that semen sample."

"Oh!" Eric flushed. "Do you really need me to do that? I mean… it's kind of embarrassing…"

"It's really important, Eric," Frank said seriously. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I guess." Eric blinked unhappily. "I just don't usually do that sort of thing. You know…" He hesitated and his cheek's got redder. "Touch myself."

Frank put a hand on Eric's shoulder. "This is part of your defense, so think of it that way. We'll pick you up tomorrow around 1:45pm. Should we meet you here?"

"No, I'll meet you at the curb where you dropped me off the other day."

"Ok. See you then."

They left Eric sitting slumped on the side of his bed looking hopeless.

Joe shook his head. "He sure is taking this hard."

"That's one of the reasons I can't help but believe he's innocent," Frank said. "He just seems so stunned by the whole thing."

"I know what you mean." Joe pulled Eric's camera from his pocket and held it up. "We should take this to the police so they can compare its resolution to the original pictures. It shouldn't take somebody in the forensics lab long to prove this camera didn't take those pictures." He chuckled as he slid the camera back into his pocket. "It's funny that Eric has no idea how to print digital pictures, although I suppose that's fairly common."

"And remember, his family doesn't have much money," Frank reminded him. "He would probably never even think to buy something as frivolous as a picture printer."

"But you'd think he would at least know he could print them from a computer."

"He didn't have a computer," Frank noted.

"True. We should have asked him if the police confiscated it."

"We can ask whoever is in charge of the investigation when we drop off the camera," Frank said. "But before we do that, we should talk to Alison." He got out his phone. "I doubt she'll want to see the camera herself, but she needs to know that we're giving more evidence to the police."

It was dark by the time they got back to their apartment later that evening. They ended up getting stuck at the police station talking to Detective Rangill, the officer in charge of the investigation. It took a bit of fancy talking on Frank's part to convince Rangill that they had not been withholding evidence, but had only just that afternoon come into possession of the camera. Rangill was only slightly mollified by the fact that it had taken Eric Jansen several minutes of searching his own room to find the camera, but he was still obviously annoyed that his search had missed turning it up. He was also clearly not ready to lend any credence to Joe's theory that the camera could not have taken the pictures that Rangill found until the forensics lab had a look at it. So they left the camera with Rangill and returned home.

"Man!" Joe sighed when they entered the living room. "I'm exhausted! And I missed my poly sci class. I'll have to jump on the computer after dinner and find out if we got a new assignment."

"I thought you just turned in a project for poly sci."

"I did, which means she's bound to assign another project pretty soon." Joe made a face. "She loves projects. But first I've got econ homework to finish."

"I've got homework, too," Frank said. "Let's order a pizza."

"Works for me."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The next morning, Frank awoke to find Joe lying on top of him. "Excuse me, what are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to wake up." Joe kissed him on the nose. "You sleep really soundly. I've been crawling all over you for five minutes and you haven't moved. Well, most of you hasn't." He moved his hips, rubbing up and down on Frank. "This part of you got real interested almost right away. You don't have much control over it, do you?"

"Like you do?" Frank snorted. "Anyway, you usually don't fault my control when I'm ramming it up your ass."

"Ah!" Joe sighed wistfully. "That's a pleasant thought. You know, I'm still pretty wet from last night. I checked."

"So you were lying on top of me fingering yourself?"

"And you slept right through it."

"That's a sad thought."

"Isn't it, though?" Joe licked his chin. "Are you gonna do anything to cheer yourself up?"

"Well…" Frank slid his hands down Joe's back and clasped his bottom. "I think I want to play with this to appease myself."

Joe pulled his knees up. "Oh, good! Appease away!" He shifted forward so Frank could put himself in and then slid back, helping Frank drive it home. "Oh yes! That's just what I wanted!" He wrapped his arms around Frank's shoulders and began rocking back and forth, skewering himself on Frank's shaft repeatedly.

Frank caught Joe by the hips and braced his feet against the bed, pushing his knees out so he could thrust into Joe in rhythm with Joe's movements. "Ah! I love waking up like this!" He kept moving with Joe, getting it nice and deep, until they both succumbed to blissful climax.

"Ah!" Joe sighed happily. "That's the way I like to start my day. Dibs on the shower! I have to get in early to meet with my poly sci professor. She sent me an email last night. She thinks I need to make up the lecture I missed."

"Ok." Frank rolled over as Joe slid off. "I don't have to be in until eleven. I'm sleeping in."

"Wretch!" Joe smacked Frank's bottom before disappearing into the bathroom to take his shower.

Frank ended up sleeping later than he meant to, but since he needed to drive that day, he was still on time for class. Around 1:30pm, he rounded Joe up in the quad and they drove over to meet Eric near his dorm. Eric was waiting for them at the curb, looking like he had a cloud of doom hanging over him. Had it not been so serious, it might have been comical. He climbed into the back seat without a word.

The forensics lab, incongruously, was in the basement of the main police precinct. Originally, the coroner's lab had been in the basement, along with the freezers, and the forensics lab had been on the third floor. But with the advent of new forensics technology, the pathologists had needed more space, so they had moved into the basement and the coroners had moved upstairs. But the freezers for the bodies were still in the basement, lined up along one wall of the brightly lit forensics lab.

When Frank, Joe and Eric entered the lab, they were offered a cheerful greeting by Rick Conroy, the assistant coroner.

"Afternoon, gentlemen."

"Hey, Rick," Frank replied. "What are you doing down here?"

"I like to check up on these guys," Rick replied, jerking a thumb at the trio of goggles-wearing pathologists on the other side of the table from him. "I have to make sure they aren't storing their lunches in my freezers."

"Ew!" one of the pathologists yelped; a young woman with silky brown hair pulled back in a long ponytail. "With the bodies?! That's gross!"

The other two pathologists, a middle-aged man and an older woman, both laughed. "You're too sensitive to be a pathologist, Ellen" the man said.

"It's not that, Dr. Palmer," she replied archly. "Dead bodies don't bother me."

"It's just the idea of one holding your lunch for you," the older woman concluded for her, and she and Dr. Palmer laughed again. The woman came around the table and held her hand out to Eric. "You must be Eric Jansen. I'm Dr. Angela Carter, Chief of Pathology. Are you ready?"

Eric flushed. "Um…" he gulped.

"Oh! Just a second!" Dr. Palmer scurried to a corner and came back holding a magazine. "I got this from my wife. She works at the family planning clinic. She says it helps men, you know, get ready to make donations at the sperm bank." The cover of the magazine displayed a young woman in a state of near-nakedness holding a provocative pose.

Eric's blush crept to the tops of his ears. "I don't think I'll need that."

"Take it anyway." Dr. Palmer shoved it into his hand. "And take this." He handed Eric a little plastic cup. "There's a bathroom right outside the door, on the left. Take your time." He offered Eric an encouraging smile, which only made Eric's blush deepen. Clutching the cup and the magazine, he trudged out the door.

"He seemed a little embarrassed," Ellen said.

"Ya think?" Rick barked a laugh. "I thought he was going to sink through the floor when Dan handed him the magazine. Are you sure that wasn't out of your personal collection?"

"What?!" Dr. Palmer exclaimed. "I don't read that kind of stuff!"

"Who reads? Everyone knows we all just look at the pictures."

"You're terrible, Rick," Dr. Carter said, but she was smiling broadly. She turned to Frank and Joe. "You must be the Hardy boys. I've heard a lot about you. I understand we have you to thank for finding that camera."

"That's right," Joe said. "Was I right about the resolution?"

"Yes." Dr. Carter went to another table and picked up a picture in a plastic sleeve. "This is one of the pictures the police found." She picked up a second image. "And this is a print made from that camera." She held both pictures out to Joe. "See the difference?"

Joe took the pictures and nodded, a small smile of satisfaction on his face. "That's what I thought. There's no way that camera took this picture." He waggled the picture in the sleeve. "That pretty much shoots down the theory that he was stalking here, unless he had an accomplice."

"That was our conclusion as well." Dr. Carter crossed her arms and leaned against the table. "You have a very good eye. Not many people would have noticed that detail."

Joe shrugged slightly. "The details are what matter."

Dr. Carter grinned. "You'd make a good pathologist. We live for the details."

They continued to chat idly about different cases the boys had worked on while they waited for Eric. When the young man finally returned after about fifteen minutes, his cheeks were still flushed. But the little cup contained a few ounces of fluid.

Dr. Palmer immediately retrieved it from him, his eyes gleaming. "Well done! This should be more than enough for the test." He and Ellen hurried to another table at the far end of the lab.

Eric shifted uncomfortably. "Can you tell me now why you wanted that sample?" He kept his eyes averted from the corner where Dr. Palmer and Ellen chattered as they worked.

"The semen sample collected from Janey showed very low motility," Frank responded. "Essentially, her rapist was sterile. If your sperm shows normal motility, then you could not have been the one to attack her."

Eric's eyes went wide. "That's it? My guilt or innocence hangs on whether or not I'm sterile?!"

"It's just one aspect of the case, Eric," Frank said. "But every fact we add that points away from you increases the doubt that you were responsible. You have to be patient and let us work."

Eric swallowed and looked down, and then he noticed that he still had the girly magazine clutched in his hand. With a shudder, he dropped it on the nearest table.

Dr. Palmer returned, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Very active!" he exclaimed. "Eric's motility is completely normal. My wife would call that a very good donor load."

Frank nodded firmly. "That's what I expected you to find. Dr. Carter," he turned to the Chief Pathologist, "I would like to run a theory by you."

"I'm listening."

"Janey had only a few abrasions in her vagina and minimal tearing of her labium. I understand that no traces of lubrication were found, which means whatever she was entered with could not have been that large. I know your DNA tests came back positive for Eric, and I suspect the new tests the public defender ordered will, too. But the semen sample found in Janey was sterile, and he's not." He paused and drew a breath, but Dr. Palmer interrupted before he could continue.

"It wasn't kept properly frozen!" Dr. Palmer exclaimed.

"That's what I think," Frank said. "I think somebody obtained a load of Eric's semen, kept it cold but not properly frozen, and injected it into Janey with a syringe."

Dr. Carter rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "And the victim was knocked out so she couldn't see that she was being penetrated with a syringe and not a penis?"

"That's right."

"That's a very interesting theory," Dr. Carter said. She looked speculatively at Eric.

Eric looked from one to the other and held up his hands. "Wait a minute! Are you saying I gave someone a sample, like I did just now?"

"Not necessarily." Dr. Palmer stepped forward. "My wife's done a number of studies on male sexuality. Men, especially young men, have frequent erections during the night, and nighttime ejaculation is not uncommon. Wet dreams!" he clarified, as if there might have been someone in the room who did not understand what he was talking about. "Anyone could potentially collect a semen sample from you while you were sleeping and you would have been completely unaware of it."

Eric went pale. "But why…?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Frank said. "Because I'm starting to think that Janey was just the unfortunate victim of a plot targeting Eric."


	6. Coming Clean

_**Warning:**__ This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature. _

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 6: **Coming Clean**

"Joe!"

Joe swung around at the call, somehow not surprised to find Janey jogging toward him across the quad. He wondered if she had been waiting for him. Since it was Friday afternoon, there weren't many people around. Joe was done for the day himself and had been heading for home with the intention of doing a little housework. "Hi, Janey," he greeted her as she neared him. He saw immediately from the look on her face that she was unhappy.

"Hey, I… uh… I heard you're working for the public defender now." She made the statement without quite making eye contact, but Joe could still see that her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"Yes, we are," he said gently, "but that doesn't mean we've somehow stopped believing you."

"But you're defending Eric, now, right?" Her voice quavered and Joe wondered if she was going to break down. "Do you think he didn't do it?"

"Do you think he did?" Joe countered, keeping his voice level and soft.

A tear slid down Janey's cheek and she wiped it away quickly. "I wouldn't have thought so," she said. "I did break up with him, but it wasn't an ugly breakup or anything. I mean, he even said he wanted to stay friends! Isn't the girl supposed to say that when she dumps a guy?" Her sudden giggle was half a sob.

"Normally," Joe answered with a faint smile. "Did you break up with him in person or on the phone?"

"In person!" Janey said firmly. There was a hint of indignation in her voice. "I got dumped on the phone once and I hated it. I asked him to meet me for coffee after practice one day and I told him then. It was odd, though." Her gaze turned thoughtful. "He seemed almost relieved, like dating me was an effort or something. I was kind of offended."

"And did you stay friends?"

"I guess, but we honestly didn't have much reason to see each other after that. I'm not really into basketball and that's all he thinks about." Now that they were talking, Janey did not seem as near tears. "But you never answered my question," she pointed out a little accusingly. "Do you think he did it?"

"I have some doubts," Joe answered truthfully. "But I fully intend to find out what happened, whether he was responsible or not. I'm going to find out who attacked you and make sure he's brought to justice." He smiled reassuringly. "And honestly, working on the inside gets us a better chance of doing that because we have access to the evidence."

"Oh! I never thought of it like that!" Janey wiped her eyes and smiled. "I was really worried for a while there. Not being believed is a horrible feeling." She looked around. The quad was mostly empty now. "Would you like to go out for coffee?"

"We probably shouldn't while I'm working on the case."

Janey sighed. "Oh, right. I guess not. Well, I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Sure." Joe watched her walk away, chewing on his bottom lip. "So he was relieved to break up but wanted to stay friends," he muttered. "There's something wrong with that guy. Janey's a nice girl and she puts out. What guy in his right mind would rather just be friends with a girl like that?" Then Joe's eyes went wide. "I would! I gotta find Frank!" And he snatched his phone out of his pocket.

-o-o-o-o-

Frank burst into the apartment breathlessly. "Joe!" he called out. "What is so important that you couldn't just tell me on the phone?!"

Joe stepped out of the bedroom with a can of polish and a dust rag in his hands. "I know what Eric has been hiding from us."

"You do?" Frank heaved a sigh of relief. "Dang it, Joe! You had me worried something was wrong!" Seeing Joe's rather amused expression, Frank scowled at him. "You did that on purpose."

"It got you home, didn't it?" Joe laughed. "You always end up hanging around campus on Fridays and it's your turn to make dinner."

"I should spank you."

"You can do that after dinner." Joe grinned. "So, do you want to know about Eric?"

"Yes." Frank folded his arms across his chest and made a face.

"I think he's in the closet."

Frank stared. "What brought you to that conclusion?"

"I saw Janey today and she told me about their breakup. She said Eric seemed relieved but he wanted to stay friends. So it got me thinking: what kind of guy doesn't mind breaking up with a nice girl who puts out?"

"A gay one," Frank concluded with a nod. "Good call, baby brother. We should confront him." Then he paused. "Although," he speculated, "he could just be so devoted to basketball that he was relieved that he wouldn't have to try to juggle his schedule anymore."

"Maybe," Joe replied. "But from the sound of it, he wasn't really trying that hard to begin with. That's why Janey broke up with him in the first place."

Frank nodded. "That's true. And remember what Eric said about Janey liking it regular? He felt bad because it made her sound a little slutty, but what it really means is he wasn't doing her regularly. You'd think a healthy athlete like him would have lots of sexual energy to burn."

"You would," Joe agreed, "which brings us back to the question of his sexuality." He lifted his eyebrows. "It didn't take him very long to produce that cupful of semen at the lab yesterday. If he had performance issues, he would have been in there a lot longer."

"And he wasn't all that interested in that girly magazine Dr. Palmer provided, either" Frank added. "I think you're right, Joe. Eric Jansen is hiding the fact that he's gay." He rubbed his hands together. "Let's go see him tomorrow. He should be home since he's suspended from the team for now."

"Ok." Joe nodded. He tipped his head toward the bedroom. "I've got a little more dusting to do and then I was planning to clean the bathroom. Do you mind doing the vacuuming?"

"No. Do you want to go out for dinner tonight? We haven't done that for awhile."

"Yeah, let's go to the Burger Barn." Joe started to go back into the bedroom, but then he paused. "Why do you suppose he started dating Janey in the first place? Was it just to try to fit in?"

"Probably," Frank said. "Or maybe he was hoping dating a girl would make him stop wanting guys."

"It doesn't work like that."

"We know that, but I guess it can be hard for some people to accept. But we'll find out tomorrow. We're going to make him tell the truth."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Like many people, Joe and Frank liked to lie in bed on Saturday mornings. Of course, that didn't mean they were sleeping.

"Pull your knees up more," Frank murmured.

Joe complied with a sigh of pleasure. "That's nice."

"Um hmm," Frank agreed. He slipped his arms under Joe's shoulders and nuzzled his neck, pushing with his hips at the same time. "I love Saturdays."

"Me, too." Joe rubbed his hands slowly up and down Frank's back. "It's getting late, though."

"I know," Frank replied, "but I don't want to stop."

"I didn't say you should stop," Joe answered. His lips parted in another long sigh of delight as Frank pushed in again. "But we do need to go question Eric."

"We have time. Eric's not going anywhere." Frank kept pushing slowly in and out of Joe, and Joe moaned softly with each deep, slow penetration, lifting his hips to take it all the way in. Then he tightened his muscles, gripping Frank with a shudder. "Ah!" Frank gasped. He nipped Joe's earlobe. "I dare you to do that again." Joe smiled and squeezed again. Frank grunted. "I take it you want me to go faster now." Joe nodded, his smile widening and turning coy. "You enjoy having me completely wrapped around your little finger, don't you?"

"Yes," Joe replied. He nibbled Frank's shoulder.

Frank pushed up onto his hands to give himself more power and began pounding into Joe's bottom firmly, making Joe arch up on the bed, gasping with pleasure.

"Yes!" Joe cried out. "Oh, yes! Just like that!"

Frank watched as the flush of approaching orgasm spread across Joe's face and chest, darkening his nipples.

Joe clutched at Frank's arms with his eyes closed, his head rolled back and his mouth open. "Oh, don't stop!" he gasped. "Don't stop!"

Frank kept thrusting hard and deep until Joe cried aloud with joy. Joe looked beautiful to Frank when he was coming, but the glow of post-coital bliss made him radiant. The sight was enough to make anybody climax, in Frank's opinion. It always worked on him. He closed his eyes in the moment of ecstasy, but afterward, he looked into Joe's eyes. "Happy, little brother?"

"Extremely. But now I suppose we should get up."

"Yeah." Frank pulled out and sat back on his heels. "Single file through the shower, though, or we'll just be later."

Joe chuckled. "You go first. Wake me when you get out."

"Sure thing." Frank walked to the edge of the bed on his knees and stepped out.

Later, when they were both showered and had grabbed a quick breakfast, they hopped in the car to drive over to campus. The weeks of fairly nice weather had finally given way to clouds, and the forecasters were predicting rain. With the poor weather, and given the relatively early hour, few people were up and about. But the same girl was working the reception desk when they arrived in the lobby of Eric's dorm, and she waved them in with a nod and a smile.

"I hope he's up," Joe said as he knocked on Eric's door.

Eric opened it immediately, dressed in sweats.

"Are you heading out?" Joe asked.

"No, I just got back." Eric opened the door all the way to admit them. "The coach lets me use the weight room if I get over there early before the rest of the team." He ran his fingers through his hair. "He doesn't want me to get out of condition."

"So he's hoping this whole thing will be cleared up in your favor," Frank said.

"I guess," Eric shrugged slightly and closed the door. "Did you have more questions?"

"Yes." Frank folded his arms and glanced at Joe. Joe inclined his head slightly, indicating that Frank should proceed. "Eric, you said the last time you had sex was in October with Janey, is that right?"

"Um, yeah." Eric did not quite duck his head, but he dropped eye contact. His body language screamed "lie" to Frank.

"Eric, you have to be completely honest with us," Frank said. "Is that really the last time you had sex?"

Eric shifted uncomfortably and turned his face away. "I said it was!"

"I know you said that, but I'm having a hard time believing it. Did it bother you when Janey dumped you?"

"Of course it bothered me!" Eric snapped defensively. "No one likes to get dumped."

"She said you seemed relieved."

"What?" Eric's head whipped around, confusion and fear showing on his face. "It wasn't like that! I was just… I was busy and…"

"Eric," Joe interrupted, "we can tell you're lying. You only hurt yourself if you're not honest with us. Tell the truth. When was the last time you had sex and with whom?"

Eric stared at them, his mouth working silently. Then he ran the fingers of both hands through his hair and tears sprang into his eyes. "You don't understand!" he said plaintively. "I don't want people to find out! If they do…" He stumbled to the bed and sank down, his head clutched in his hands. "I'll be ruined!"

"If you are convicted of raping Janey, Eric, you will be more than ruined. Your future will be destroyed." Joe put a hand on his shoulder. "Is this secret worth your future?"

Eric began to sob. "But you don't understand!" he repeated helplessly. "I'll lose everything!"

Joe sat down next to him. "Are you gay, Eric?"

Eric's head jerked up and he stared at Joe in horror. "H… How do you know that?" he whispered.

"We figured it out." Joe squeezed Eric's shoulder. "It's not the end of the world you know."

"It is for an athlete! No one wants you in the locker room! Other guys think you're checking them out!"

"Do you do that?"

"No!"

Joe sighed and looked at Frank.

Frank nodded and picked up the interrogation. "Was the last person you had sex with a guy?"

Eric's shoulders slumped. He stared down at the floor. "Yeah."

"Who was he?"

"A guy I knew in high school. We used to… to date. I hadn't seen him since before graduation."

"Did he come see you for a reason or just for a quick hook-up?"

"Just a hook-up." Eric sighed. "We had kind of an ugly breakup and I didn't think he'd even want to talk to me again. But he dropped by the campus during the winter break and we…" Eric swallowed. "Anyway, it was just the one time. I haven't seen him since and I haven't been with anybody else since then."

"You didn't go home for Christmas?" Joe asked.

"I did," Eric answered, "but just for a couple of days. I came back for basketball practice. That's when he dropped by."

"He's not a student here?"

"No. I don't think he's going to college."

"You said the breakup was ugly," Frank asked suddenly.

"Um, yeah." Eric flushed. "We were keeping it a secret that we were seeing each other. We were both on the basketball team. One day, we were playing some one on one after school. No one else was around and we kind of got into in the shower afterward. Someone walked in on us." Eric bit his lip at the memory. "I didn't want anyone to know I was gay, so I said he wanted me to do it and that I just went along with it for kicks. He got kicked off the team." Eric pushed his bangs off of his forehead and sighed heavily. "He was a great player, though. Before that, we thought he was gonna get a scholarship. But that fell through when he was kicked off. I ended up getting the scholarship to come here."

Frank looked at Joe. He could see that Joe was thinking the same thing. "It seems odd that someone you betrayed and ruined would come see you just for sex."

"Betrayed?!" Eric croaked.

"How else would you phrase it?" Frank said somewhat heartlessly. "You were lovers, but rather than risk discovery, you threw him under the bus to save yourself. I would think that he hated you."

Eric's face crumpled. "I thought he did," he whispered hoarsely. "When he came here, I thought he was gonna yell at me, call me names, but he didn't. It was like it used to be, when we would just talk about stuff. Then we started making out and then we did it." Eric half-heartedly straightened the sheet that was lying rumpled and half-fallen off the mattress. "It was nice being with him again. I really missed him." He put his hand over his face. "I really loved him."

"Did you tell him that?" Joe asked.

Eric shook his head. "No. He left after I fell asleep."

Frank tapped his fingers against his chin. "Did you use a condom?"

"Yeah."

"What happened to it?"

"I tossed it." Eric glanced at the floor.

"Could he have taken it?"

Eric blinked. "Why would he do that?"

"Someone injected your semen into Janey, Eric," Frank said patiently. "How many people in recent memory have had the opportunity to obtain a load of your cum?"

Eric's eyes went wide. "You think he…?" He swallowed. "You think he's the one who attacked Janey?"

"Think about it." Frank ticked off the points on his fingers. "He has considerable reason to hate you; he had the opportunity to get your semen; and he had a reason to dislike Janey because she dated you. He probably stole a shirt or something from you while he was here as well, something with your scent on it that he could wear while he was accosting Janey." He put his hands on his hips. "The only thing I can't figure out is the timing. The circumstances under which she was attacked were too coincidental."

"I…. I don't believe it!" Eric exclaimed faintly. "It's been nearly a year since it happened. If he really hated me, why would he wait this long?"

"We'll just have to ask him. What's his name?"

"Cody Allen."

"I don't suppose you have an address or phone number for him?"

"I might have his old address." Eric glanced uncertainly around his sty of a room. "But do you think he'd still be living with his parents?"

"It's a place to start," Frank replied. "See if you can find it. If you can't, we might be able to track him down through your high school."

Eric nodded slowly, his eyes unfocused. "This is all so… so weird. I should never have gone out with Janey. I just thought it would make me seem more normal, you know?"

"It's never a good idea to pretend to be something you're not," Joe said. He stood up. "We're going to have to report all this to Ms. Lewinsky. It's going to come out, Eric."

Eric met Joe's gaze, his face filled with resignation and his eyes with tears. "I understand."

They left him sitting forlornly on the edge of his bed, the first of his tears starting to slide down his cheeks. It was raining when they got outside and they hurried silently back to the car, their shoulders hunched against the rain. But once they were seated inside, Frank did not immediately start the car.

"I really don't want this all to have happened because he refused to admit he's gay," Frank said.

"I don't either, but I can't see any other conclusion," Joe replied sadly. He looked at Frank. "Are we pretending to be something we're not? I've never told anyone I'm gay, but I'm not ashamed of it."

"Neither am I." Frank turned in his seat to look at Joe. "But it's different for us. People might be more willing to accept gays these days, but incest is still pretty taboo. I can say I love my brother and no one will bat an eye. But if I say I'm in love with my brother, they'd probably try to throw me in jail, or the nuthouse." He turned back to the wheel and started the car. "Eric's situation is different. He let his cowardice dictate his actions and now he and Janey are paying the price of what he put Cody through. I'm not sure he deserves to come out of this clean."

"Except that he didn't rape Janey."

"Yeah, except for that." He flipped on the windshield wipers. "Let's write this up into a report and submit it to Doug and Ms. Lewinsky. I don't want to have to talk about this in person with anyone yet." Joe nodded silently. Frank patted his knee. "And after that, let's watch a DVD. I think we should do something distracting."

Joe brightened. "I like that idea. Let's watch _Iron Monkey_. That always puts me in a good mood."

"I'll make the popcorn."


	7. Searching for Evidence

_**Warning:**__ This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature and mature subject matter. _

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 7: **Searching for Evidence**

Doug leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. The mug was one of those custom decorated jobs with a picture of his wife and kids. Doug was always breaking coffee cups and his wife had given him this one in the hope that it might survive a little longer. So far, Doug had managed to keep the mug whole for nearly four months; a record in longevity for one of his coffee cups. Joe had asked him once why he did not just use Styrofoam cups and Doug had replied that his wife thought they caused cancer. But Joe suspected that the coffee in the cup was cold, because Doug was holding the mug by the bowl instead of the handle.

"You guys have come up with a really interesting theory," Doug said. He tapped his printout of their report. "But it's going to be pretty difficult to prove."

"Possibly," Frank replied. "I've sent a request to their high school to try to get a copy of either the yearbook photo or the school ID photo of Cody Allen. We were thinking of showing it around campus to see if anybody recognizes him."

"That's a good idea."

"We're also planning to search Eric's room again," Frank continued. "Eric is a slob, so there might still be some physical evidence of Cody in the room."

Doug's eyebrows shot up. "Since last October?!"

"He's really messy," Joe emphasized. "Remember, the police searched his room and didn't find his camera."

Doug laughed. "Oh, that's right!" He scratched his head and grimaced. "I don't envy you searching the place, then. He doesn't leave old food lying around, too, does he?"

Joe made a face. "We'll find out."

"I think I'm going to stop whining about the state of my daughter's bedroom," Doug said with a chuckle. "It sounds like it could be a lot worse." He set his mug down, dangerously close to the edge of the desk Joe noticed, and picked up their report. "Even if you don't find anything, this information at least gives Alison a defensive plan. If Eric is gay, it's less likely he would have any desire to rape a girl; even one he used to date who dumped him. But it would definitely be a much stronger defense if you could get proof that Eric had sex with another guy in his room."

"We'll do our best," Frank said.

Outside the office, Frank sighed. "We should probably call Eric and find out when would be a good time to search his room. I've got three tests tomorrow, though, so that's out for me."

"How did you manage to get three tests on the same day?" Joe chuckled.

"Bad karma, I think."

"Well, I can go tomorrow," Joe said. "I'm out by two, so I'll call Eric and see if I can meet him in his room after that."

"Ok." Frank looked up at the sky. "I think it's going to start raining again."

Joe pulled the hood of his jacket up. "Too bad. I wanted to stop at the grocery store."

"Maybe we can do that and get home before it opens up."

They piled into the car and headed for the store, but the weather was not inclined to cooperate with them. It was pouring by the time they came out of the store and they were soaked before they could get all the bags into the trunk.

"Well, that didn't work," Joe said as he hopped quickly back into the passenger seat.

"Sure didn't," Frank agreed, shaking water out of his hair. "But we did luck into that really nice piece of salmon."

"True."

Frank started the car and they drove home. Back at the apartment, Joe shooed Frank out of the kitchen.

"You better go study for your tests. I'll put the groceries away and start dinner."

"It's a little early," Frank said. "I think we should fool around first." He put his arms around Joe's waist from behind. "Rainy Mondays always make me want sex."

"Every day makes you want sex!" Joe laughed. "And when it's raining, you just want to stay in bed longer. I really think you should study first. We'll have an early dinner and then go to bed. If we get hungry later, we can always have a snack."

"Oh very well," Frank sighed. "I concede that you're making more sense than me. Oh dang!"

"What is it?"

"I left my backpack in the car."

"Take an umbrella."

"I'll just run." Frank went back out the door.

Joe pulled out his cell phone and punched Eric's number.

"_Hello?_"

"Hi, Eric. It's Joe Hardy."

"_Oh, hi._"

"Hey, will you be in your room tomorrow afternoon? I want to come over and look for physical evidence of Cody."

"_I have a class in the afternoon, but it's over at two._"

"That's perfect. I get out at two tomorrow also. Shall I meet you in front of your dorm?"

"_Sure._"

"Great. See you then." Joe disconnected and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He was almost finished putting away the groceries when Frank came back in.

"It's really coming down out there now," Frank reported.

"I can see that." Joe replied, lifting an eyebrow at Frank's soaked jacket. "You should have taken the umbrella."

"I almost came back for one," Frank admitted. He settled down by the computer. "You can listen to music or watch TV if you want. It won't bother me."

"Ok." Joe plugged his iPod into its speaker stand and let it shuffle its way through his play list while he cooked. He poached the salmon and served it on a bed of fettuccine with broccoli and leeks, and drizzled a little bit of homemade pesto sauce over the top. Then he opened a bottle of pinot grigio and filled two wine glasses. "Dinner's ready."

Frank closed his textbook with a noisy sigh. "Good. I'm sick of this." He came to the table and immediately took a sip of his wine. "That's nice. As usual, you've outdone yourself."

"Oh, yeah, this dinner was such a strain." Joe chuckled as he sat down. "I called Eric while you were getting your backpack. He's going to meet me at his dorm tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, I'll find something."

"I'm sure you'll find _something_," Frank grimaced. "I just hope it's not contagious. Whether or not you can find anything Cody might have left with his DNA on it is another matter."

Joe smirked. "I'll take gloves."

After dinner, Frank grinned at Joe. "That was good. If I do the cleaning up, can I have my way with you afterward?"

"Absolutely." Joe left Frank in the kitchen and went into the bedroom. He folded the bed covers down and sniffed. "We should change these. They're getting a bit musty." Then he pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it aside. "Later," he mumbled and plopped down on the side of the bed to take off his shoes and socks. He stood up to strip out of his jeans and boxers and then sprawled on his stomach kitty-corner across the bed, with one arm tucked under his head.

"That's one of my favorite views," Frank said when he came in.

"Oh?" Joe waggled his bottom.

Frank kicked out of his shoes. "Yeah, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy."

"Fuzzy, huh?" Joe grinned.

"You know what I mean." Frank sat on the side of the bad and smacked Joe's bottom lightly.

"Sure I do, if by warm and fuzzy you mean hot and hard."

"That's what you're gonna get if you keep talking like that."

"Oooh, promise?"

Frank smacked Joe's bottom again. "Yeah!" He stood up to finish undressing. "Do these sheets need to be changed?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah, but we can do it later. It's early enough. We can shower when we're done and then remake the bed."

"Sounds like a plan." Frank crawled naked onto the bed and stretched out next to Joe. "This is so much better than trying to sneak in quickies whenever Dad wasn't around."

"I know," Joe agreed. "Sometimes I wonder how we could stand it back then."

"We couldn't!" Frank reminded him with a laugh. "Remember, that's how we found that woman's body; because we snuck off into the woods to fuck."

"Oh, that's right." Joe rolled onto his side and slipped his arms around Frank. "But no more trysts in the woods for me, unless I'm on a picnic." He kissed Frank on the nose. "Now I get all my sex properly in a bed."

"Or on the couch."

"Or in the shower."

"Or maybe on the floor in front of the TV."

"Or sometimes on the kitchen table."

They both laughed and Frank shook his head. "Do you think maybe we spend too much time having sex?"

"Is that possible?"

"One might think so if you throw in that time I had you up against the door because I couldn't wait."

"Ah, yes. I remember that." Joe grinned. "It was really good." He kissed Frank soundly. "I think we'd only be having sex too much if it started to interfere with school and work. That hasn't happened yet, so I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"Yet, he says," Frank muttered and rolled his eyes.

"So you promised to have your way with me."

"That I did." Frank pushed Joe onto his back and licked his chin. "I'm going to start with lots of kissing and see where that takes me."

"Mmmm," Joe responded, since his mouth was already too occupied to form words.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Eric was nowhere in sight when Joe arrived in front of his dorm the next afternoon, but the young athlete appeared within minutes, jogging across the lawn.

"Sorry to make you wait," Eric said as he approached. "I had a question for the professor so I stayed after class."

"No problem. I only just got here a minute ago." Joe inclined his head toward the door. "Shall we go in?"

"Sure." Eric hunched his shoulders slightly as they fell into step together. He didn't speak again until they were inside his room. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

"I'm not sure." Joe put his backpack just inside the door and stood with his hands on his hips. "You're not the neatest guy around, so it's possible that Cody may have left some DNA behind and it's still here."

"You mean like on a cup or something?"

"Did you give him something to drink?"

"We had some beers." Eric scratched his head. "Oh, but there was a recycling drive a couple weeks back and I scrounged out all my bottles and cans." He looked around speculatively. "I don't think I still have any in here."

"That's all right. It would be hard to get DNA off something like that after all this time." Joe decided not to say anything about the school's no alcohol on campus policy and stepped toward Eric's bed. "I assume you had sex on the bed."

"Yeah."

"I imagine you've changed the sheets since then."

"Um, yeah." Eric pointed into the corner. "I think that's them over there."

Joe stared at the jumbled pile of laundry heaped in the corner. "Is that clean laundry or dirty?"

Eric's cheeks colored. "That's the dirty laundry, but the stuff closer to the window can still be worn." He pointed at another smaller pile on the other side of the bed. "That's the clean laundry over there. I did that last month."

Joe bit his lip to keep from commenting and dug into the pile of dirty laundry. "It looks like there're two sets of sheets in here."

"Yeah, there are," Eric said. "I was figuring I'd have to wash them soon cuz I need to change the ones on the bed."

Joe pulled a fitted sheet out of the pile and nodded with satisfaction. "Well, it's a good thing you didn't do it yet." He pointed at several crusty streaks stiffening the material. "This looks like cum to me."

Eric flushed and dropped his eyes. "Yeah, I guess he got off pretty good."

Joe carefully rolled up the sheet so the cum stains where on the inside. "Do you have a bag or something I can put this in?" Eric rummaged around on the floor and produced a plastic grocery bag. Joe shoved the sheet into the bag. "I'm going to take this to the lab for testing. If it is semen, and it doesn't match yours, it will prove you were telling the truth about having sex with a guy in here. It doesn't prove you didn't attack Janey, but it casts some doubt on it."

Eric swallowed. "What do you think it will take to prove I didn't do it?"

"Something that links Cody to Janey."

"But how is that possible?" Eric demanded plaintively. "He's never met her!"

"That is the tricky part." Joe agreed. The dismay and confusion on Eric's face made him look vulnerable. "Is there anything else you think we should know?"

Eric shook his head. "No." He ran his fingers through his hair and sank down on the edge of the bed, causing a stack of books to fall off the far side. He looked over his shoulder at the noise, but didn't bother to retrieve them. He just sat there with his shoulders slumped. "I still can't imagine Cody doing something like this. I realize I must have… must have hurt him pretty badly, but to plan to steal my sperm and use it like that…?" He trailed off.

"He might not have been planning it at the time," Joe said. He picked his way to the chair next to Eric's desk, which was heaped with papers, sports magazines and what was probably just trash, and sat down. "It might have been like you said. He might have been planning to put you through a big guilt trip, but you ended up making love instead. Taking the condom full of your cum might have been a spur of the moment thing."

Eric made a faint noise that might have been a sob and wiped a hand over his face. "I'm never gonna get in the NBA now. Even if I beat the rap, everyone will know I'm gay. I'm ruined either way."

"You don't know that."

"How many gay NBA players do you know?" Eric demanded in a shaking voice.

"None," Joe admitted, "but I don't follow pro basketball. You should at least do some research before you just give up. And you really need to stop hating yourself so much. That's far more likely to keep you from turning pro than being gay."

Eric's head jerked up and he stared at Joe. "What do you mean?"

"You talk about being gay like it's the same thing as being a serial killer. Look honestly at yourself. What defines you more: basketball or being gay?"

Eric blinked. "I'm a basketball player," he answered hesitantly.

"Does being gay change that?"

Eric slowly shook his head.

"So quit assuming everyone will judge you by that before they judge your skills on the court." Joe leaned back. "How did you and Cody meet?"

Eric started at the change of subject. "Uh, we met at basketball camp one summer. We hit it off and stayed friends afterward."

"How did your affair start?"

"We just sort of… fell into it, I guess," Eric said. "We hung out together all the time. One night we were just knocking around drinking some beer Cody scored and next thing I know, we're making out. We ended up doing it. We didn't really talk about it afterward; we just kept doing it whenever we had the chance."

"And then you betrayed him."

"Yeah." Eric swallowed as he made the admission.

Joe stood up. "I should get this over to the lab." He stepped to the door and picked up his backpack. "I'll let you know how the tests go. Don't tell anyone about this." He shook the bag with the sheet in it.

Eric nodded. "Thanks for…" he hesitated and bit his lip. "Thanks for helping me. I guess I'm not the greatest guy you've ever met."

"No, that would be my brother Frank," Joe answered with a smile. "But he sets a high standard. You're a decent fellow, Eric. Keep that in mind."

Eric heaved a big sigh. "I'll try."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

When Frank got home from school, he found the car gone and the apartment empty. Only then did it occur to him to check his phone, which he had put on vibrate. There was a message from Joe.

_Found a bed sheet with what might be Cody's cum stains. Taking it to the lab. Be home later._

"Good job, little brother," Frank murmured. He typed the same message into the phone as a reply and sent it. "Well, let's see if I've been as successful." He sat down in front of his computer and turned it on. When it was up, he logged into his office email to check for messages. There were three, but only one immediately caught his interest. The address was from Eric's high school.

_Mr. Hardy_, the email began, _it is against school policies to directly provide information about current and former students for purposes unrelated to school activities. However, under the circumstances, I can direct you to the school's alumni website. There are photos posted there of last year's championship basketball team. I believe at least one of the photos includes Cody Allen._

The email was signed by the vice principal.

Frank wrinkled his nose. "You could at least have included the link," he grumbled as he opened up a browser page. After a few minutes of searching, he found the alumni page for the high school. It was not actually affiliated with the school district, but was run by a group of apparently enthusiastic graduates. It contained lots of information about the school's sports teams, focusing especially on the basketball team, which was apparently the school's pride and joy. There were dozens of pictures chronicling the team's championship season, culminating with a posed team photo. Frank quickly found Eric in the photo, so he scanned the names underneath until he found Cody's. "Fifth from the left, second row." He counted to the right spot and leaned closer to the screen.

Cody was a handsome young man with light brown hair and hazel eyes. The photo had obviously been taken before he was cut from the team. He was smiling brightly into the camera, his face full of happiness and promise. Frank right clicked on the photo and downloaded it to his hard drive. Then he opened it up in his photo editing software, enlarged it and cropped the picture down to just Cody. The resolution was pretty good, so he sent it to the printer.

"Well, how do you do, Cody Allen?" Frank murmured as he studied the picture. He printed another one so he could give one to Joe. "Now let's see if we can find you."

-o-o-o-

Frank was making dinner when Joe got home. "How'd it go at the lab?"

"Fine." Joe hung his jacket on the hall tree by the door. "Dr. Palmer was the only one there, but he agreed that the stains looked like cum. He was going to start testing it right away. I've been thinking, though. Unless we can get some DNA directly from Cody to compare to what we hope are his cum stains on that sheet, we can't place him in Eric's room." He sat down at the table. "And with only Eric's word that it was Cody he had sex with, he would be within his right to refuse to give a DNA sample."

"I know," Frank said. "But the good news is I got a picture of him."

"Really? His high school sent one?"

"No, but they directed me to an alumni site that had pictures of the basketball team. It's on the counter there." Frank pointed with the spoon he was using to stir his spaghetti sauce.

Joe leaned over and snagged the picture off the counter. "He's cute."

"Yeah. Eric was a fool to dump him."

"But it means people are more likely to remember him; especially girls."

"True."

"Is this one for me?"

"Yes."

Joe got up and put the picture in the binder in his backpack. "I'll drop by Janey's dorm tomorrow and show it around. If he was watching her, maybe somebody saw him."

"Good idea." Frank tapped the spoon off and set it in the spoon rest. "Sauce is done. Can you run some hot water over the spaghetti? I just rinsed it a little while ago, but it's probably cooled off some."

"Sure."

Frank got plates out of the cupboard. "Do you mind eating buffet style tonight?"

"Not at all." Joe grinned. "Fewer dishes to wash."

"My thought exactly," Frank said, grinning back. "That means less time lost before we can go to bed and fool around."

Joe chuckled as he fished the pasta server out of the utensil drawer. "Hand me a plate."

Frank handed one over and held the other against his hip while he waited for his turn at the spaghetti. "Did it take you long to find that sheet?"

"Not really, but Eric has got to be the gold standard for messiness." Joe handed the pasta server to Frank. "Although he did make a distinction between clothes too dirty to wear and ones that could still be worn a few more times."

"That's disgusting."

"I tried not to think about it too closely." Joe ladled sauce over his pasta. "I focused instead on the convenient fact that it meant he hadn't washed his bedding since October."

"That's good for the investigation, but it's still really disgusting."

"I know." Joe set his plate on the table. "Do you want some wine? We've still got some of that cabernet left."

"Sounds good."

Joe divided the last of the cabernet into two glasses and brought them to the table just as Frank was sitting down. He handed Frank his glass and held out the other. "Here's to us."

Frank clinked his glass against Joe's. "To us."


	8. Cody

Chapter 8: **Cody**

Joe came back into the bedroom after his shower the next morning and found Frank sitting on the edge of the bed with his phone to his ear. He nodded at Joe but continued to listen in silence for several minutes while Joe got dressed.

"Ok, thanks, Doug," Frank finally said. "We'll let you know if we get any hits showing those pictures around today." He paused. "Yeah, we will. Bye." He hung up. "Doug says the lab was able to pull some DNA material off that sheet you found. They're sending it out this morning. He also said we should show the picture around Eric's dorm and see if anyone recognizes Cody."

"I can do that before class today if you want to visit Janey's dorm later this afternoon."

"That works for me." Frank stood up and put his phone in his pocket. "I just wish I could figure out how he did it, if Cody did attack Janey. How did he manage to time it so that he could set Eric up?"

"We'll just have to ask him," Joe replied with a grin.

"Right!" Frank laughed. "But we'll have to find him first."

They left the bedroom, gathered up their backpacks and headed out the door. Once on campus, they separated. Frank headed for his class and Joe went to Eric's dorm. At this hour of the morning, there were lots of students about. Joe watched faces as he walked, wondering if everyone he saw was a student. It was impossible to tell. Someone walking along with a backpack slung over one shoulder would be taken for a student no matter what his occupation.

It was still overcast, but the rain had slowed to a drizzle for the moment. Joe had his small folding umbrella tucked in his backpack, but he did not bother to take it out. He had his hood pulled up to keep his head dry. When he arrived at the dorm, he went into the lobby to accost people, rather than catch them outside. He decided to start with the young man working at the check-in desk.

"Hi, I'm Joe Hardy. I'm a private investigator and I wondered if you've seen this person hanging around campus?" He held out the picture of Cody.

"You're an investigator?" the young man asked suspiciously.

Joe smiled as he pulled out his ID. "Yes. I work for the Doug Matthews Detective Agency." He held it out so the young man could read it and compare the picture to his face.

"Oh, I guess that's ok. Lemme see the picture again."

Joe dangled the picture over the edge of the counter.

"Doesn't look familiar," the young man said with a shake of his head. "Is he a student here?"

"No," Joe said. "Is it all right if I stay in the lobby and ask a few of the residents? It's kind of cold outside."

"Yeah, sure." The young man lost interest in him and Joe moved away, drifting more into the center of the lobby where he could catch men and women coming out of their respective doors. But after an hour of showing the picture to dozens of students, Joe began to doubt anyone here had seen Cody the night he came to see Eric. With only a few minutes before the start of his first class, he finally tucked the picture back into the inside pocket of his jacket and hurried out.

Joe met Frank later for lunch in the larger of the college's two cafeterias. "Man, that was fruitless!" he complained as he ladled up a bowl of soup. "No one recognized Cody."

"Don't get discouraged," Frank said. "It's a big campus. Maybe I'll get lucky this afternoon at Janey's dorm."

"I hope so."

"At any rate, we shouldn't really expect to get a hit the very first day," Frank continued. "Investigations are all about the legwork."

"I don't need any more legwork," Joe said with an exaggerated groan. "The workout you gave my legs last night still has me a little stiff."

"But you loved every minute of it."

Joe grinned. "Yes, I did!"

They found an empty table and sat down facing each other.

"I've been thinking about how Cody could have set Eric up," Joe said quietly as he ate his soup. "I think he must have been at the game that night."

"Hunh," Frank grunted. "If he was there, he would have known about Eric getting injured and leaving the game."

"Right."

"But there's no way he could have known Janey would be walking by right then."

"Not unless he was the one who called her."

"What?" Frank paused in the middle of putting a forkful of salad in his mouth.

"Remember that new guy she was seeing? The one she said called her that night? She was on her way to meet him when she was attacked."

Frank nodded slowly. "I see where you're going." He leaned forward. "Cody is at the game and sees Eric leave. When he doesn't return, he steps outside, calls Janey and arranges to meet her. Then he hides along the path to wait for her, attacks her, and slips away. He might even have gone back to the game to make sure Eric was still out. Then he calls Janey's cell phone a few more times to establish an alibi."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Joe said. "And that would also explain why Eric's sperm thawed out. Cody must have been carrying it around with him for days, waiting for the perfect set of circumstances to pull off his plan."

"If he did plan it."

"He must have! Why else would he take Eric's semen?"

"So we need to show Janey Cody's picture," Frank said, "and see if she recognizes him."

Joe nodded. "You should ask if she's there when you go to her dorm."

"I will."

Joe sighed. "I can't imagine how much hate he must be feeling to plan something like this. Knowing it would take weeks or months to set up and to have to fuck the guy who ruined your life on top of it. That's really intense."

"Yeah." Frank ran his fingers through his hair. "It seems like a simple murder would be more straightforward."

"Maybe he did all this just to expose Eric," Joe said quietly. "Maybe he's hoping it will destroy Eric's life the way his was destroyed. I guess if you think you have nothing to lose, you can do anything."

"Maybe so." Frank toyed with his salad. "I feel sorry for Janey, though. It's really going to hurt to find out she was just a pawn in all this."

"Yeah." Joe smiled slightly. "Maybe we should introduce her to Chet. He's a safe guy and totally straight. And he's been moaning about not having a girlfriend."

"Who knows?" Frank shrugged. "They might hit it off. Although I'm not sure I'm ready to hear about Chet losing his cherry."

Joe laughed. "Neither am I! But after what Janey's been through, I doubt she'll jump into bed with a guy for a long time."

"Too true."

They finished their lunches in silence. After putting their trays on the conveyer into the kitchen, they stopped at the door. Outside the glass panels, rain pounded down in sheets, turning the world a mournful shade of gray.

"Oh, great!" Frank exclaimed. "I don't have my umbrella."

"It's not in your backpack?"

"No. I think I left it on the counter at home."

"Walk to class with me and then you can have mine," Joe said. He got his umbrella out and pushed through the door with his shoulder. "I'll wait for you after class. You can pick me up when you're done."

"You're a good man, little brother."

They huddled together under the tiny umbrella and hurried to Joe's class. Once there, Joe handed Frank the umbrella. "See you in an hour."

"Right."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Even with the umbrella, Frank was pretty damp by the time he reached Janey's dorm. He stood in the doorway and shook the water off of the umbrella before folding it up and stepping inside. The common room was crowded. The foul weather was obviously keeping a lot of people indoors. But a girl who looked familiar bounced off the couch as soon as she saw Frank and hurried over.

"Hi! I remember you! You're the detective guy, right?" She smiled brightly.

"Right," Frank returned her smile. "And you're…" he paused, hoping she would fill in her name.

"Kelly!" Her smile got wider. "Are you doing another investigation?"

"Not another one. The same one."

Kelly frowned. "But I thought Eric Jansen got arrested for assaulting Janey."

"He was arrested, yes, but that doesn't end the investigation. There are still a few loose ends to tie up." He reached into his inside pocket and took out Cody's picture. "Have you ever seen this guy?"

"Oh, wow, he's cute!" Kelly studied the picture closely. "You know, he looks familiar, but I'm not sure where I've seen him."

"Was it around here?"

"It might have been." Kelly wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure, though." She looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Lois, have you seen this guy?"

"What guy?"

A woman Frank remembered as being the dorm R.A. they talked to before came over. He held out the picture. "This guy."

Lois leaned over to look at the picture. "Yes, I've seen him. He hangs around the coffee shop where I like to hotspot."

"Oh, that's it!" Kelly smacked her fist into her palm. "I saw him having coffee with Janey once! That's where I remember him from."

"You saw him with Janey?"

"Yeah."

Frank turned to Lois. "Do you know if Janey's here right now?"

"She should be in her room," Lois replied. "She was going to go to the library, but when she saw the rain, she decided to stay here to study."

"May I go up and talk to her?"

"Well," Lois chewed her lip. "I'll have to escort you. Normally, non-residents aren't allowed beyond the common room alone."

"That's fine. In fact, I would appreciate it if you stayed while I talk to Janey."

"Sure." Lois led the way to the elevator. "She's on the sixth floor, so we'll ride up." When the elevator doors opened on the sixth floor, Lois held a hand up to stop him from stepping out right away. "Man on the floor!" she shouted. There was a flurry of squeals and the sound of a few doors slamming. She gave him an apologetic grin. "Sorry about that. The girls are always running around in towels and things and then get angry when a guy walks through unannounced."

Frank smiled. "I understand."

They stepped out of the elevator, turned right and proceeded a short way down the hall.

"Here it is," Lois said. She stopped at a door with a dry erase board tacked to it that had Janey's name written on it in flowery script in multiple colors. She rapped on the panel.

"Come in!"

Lois opened the door and poked her head in. "Are you decent, Janey? You have a male visitor."

"Oh!" Janey popped to her feet from her small desk. She was wearing pajamas, a bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers. She tightened the robe over her pajamas and grinned ruefully. "Decent enough, I guess."

Frank stepped in and gave her a disarming smile. "Hi, Janey. We haven't spoken for awhile."

She quickly interrupted. "I talk to your brother Joe all the time," she said. "I think you said your name is Frank?"

"That's right." Frank still had Cody's picture in his hand, rolled into a tube to hide the image. He slowly unrolled it. "I was wondering if you could tell me who this is." He turned the unrolled picture toward her.

Janey blinked in surprise. "Why do you have a picture of John?"

"You know him?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," Janey replied with a shrug. "I told Joe about him. He was the guy I was supposed to meet the night I was attacked. We were sort of dating, I guess. I met him for coffee a few times."

Frank sighed. It was exactly the answer he expected to hear, but it was still dismaying. "What did he tell you his name was?"

"John Cleese, like the British actor, you know? He made a joke about it."

"I see." Frank rolled the picture back up and returned it to his pocket. "His name isn't John Cleese, Janey. It's Cody Allen. He's someone Eric Jansen went to high school with. There's a good possibility that he was the one who attacked you."

"W… What?!" Janey stared, shock and dismay making her face sag.

Frank sighed. "I can't tell you everything right now, but we have information indicating that Cody Allen has a significant grudge against Eric Jansen and he may have framed Eric for your attack."

Janey swayed and sank into her chair. "But… how? I mean, Eric's sperm…"

"Those are the details I can't provide right now," Frank said gently. "But the fact that you recognize him is a big factor. Are you sure he's the one who called you that night?"

"Yes," Janey whispered. "He said he only had an hour and that I would have to hurry if we were going to have time to meet." She put a shaking hand over her mouth and tears formed in her eyes. "I don't understand!"

"I'm really sorry, Janey." Frank glanced at Lois before continuing. "We're very close to solving this case. I know this is painful, but you've been a tremendous help this whole time and we want to bring your attacker to justice. Just please bear with us a little while longer."

She nodded mutely. Lois moved closer and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Thank you, Janey," Frank said. "Is it ok if I go back down by myself, Lois?"

"Go ahead," Lois nodded.

Frank left quickly, closing the door behind him, but not before he heard Janey begin to sob.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Frank was waiting for Joe when he came out of class, leaning against the wall across from the door with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"She recognized him, didn't she?" Joe asked quietly.

"Yes." Frank replied. "She confirmed he's the guy she's been meeting for coffee for the past few months."

"Damn!" Joe murmured. "I was partly hoping that wouldn't be the case, but I was starting to be pretty sure that it was."

They started down the hall toward the stairs.

"You've really called this case right from the beginning, Joe," Frank said.

Joe shrugged. "Some of it. But the whole thing just makes me really sad. Janey's life could have been ruined if she had less strength of character."

Frank nodded in agreement. "We need to go see Ms. Lewinsky. I think we should tell her all of this in person. I already called Doug and asked him if he could meet us there."

"You want to go right now?"

"Yes. I know it means missing some classes, but this is discovery evidence that will have to go to the prosecution. If the DNA evidence off that sheet doesn't match Eric's it corroborates his story. At the very least, the police will want to pick Cody up and check his DNA against what was found in Eric's room."

"It still doesn't prove he attacked Janey, though," Joe said.

"But there's enough circumstantial evidence to warrant questioning him. She wouldn't have been there if he hadn't called her. And it still comes back to the fact that there was none of Eric's blood on her. Too many people reported that he was bleeding quite a lot around the time of the attack."

Joe made a face. "It still may not be enough to get Eric off."

"Maybe not." The rain was still coming down heavily and the building exit was crowded as people paused to open umbrellas. Once they were outside, hurrying along under Joe's umbrella, Frank pointed toward the parking lot. "I had time, so I went home for the car. It's over there."

"Ok."

Like everyone else, they dashed through the downpour and scrambled into their car, which immediately steamed up from the presence of their warm, damp clothes.

"Sheesh!" Frank grumbled. He started the car and turned on the defroster. "I hope we find decent parking. It's really wet out there."

"Yeah."

Downtown, they had good parking luck and found a spot only paces from the courthouse. Doug was waiting for them in the lobby.

"Good work, guys," Doug congratulated them. "I knew I could count on you."

"Thanks, Doug," Frank replied. "We still need to get Cody picked up, though."

"I talked to Detective Rangill already," Doug said. "I gave him a copy of that picture you printed out and all the information we have on him. If he's still in town, the police will find him."

The meeting with Alison and Doug ran long and the rain had stopped by the time they came out.

Doug looked up at the sky, where stars were occasionally visible through breaks in the windblown clouds. "Hey, looks like the storm might finally be over. Thank goodness." He shook his head. "Listening to my wife bitch about tracked in mud got old the year I married her." He shook hands with Frank and Joe in turn. "You've done a great job on this case, guys. Why don't you take a break for a few days? With all this new evidence, I'm sure Alison and the DA will have a lot to talk about."

"We'll do that," Frank answered. "Thanks, Doug."

Back in the car, Joe took his phone out. "This thing's been vibrating at me the whole time," he muttered. "Oh, it's Dad. He's inviting us to dinner on Sunday. I'm not sure why he needed to call _and_ send text, but at least he's using the technology."

Frank chuckled. "That'll be nice. We haven't seen Dad for awhile."

Since he had his phone out, Joe went on the internet to check his email. "Oh, damn!"

"What is it?"

"My stupid poly sci teacher. She wants me to stop by her office tonight and pick up a handout for our new project."

"_Another_ project?"

Joe groaned. "I told you she likes them. She said she'll be there till 7pm." He glanced at his watch. "Dang it, there's still time. You better drop me off. I'll go see her and walk home."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It'll be alright since the rain stopped."

"Ok."

"You can start dinner," Joe added with a grin.

"Oh, thanks!" Frank laughed. He drove back to campus and dropped Joe off as close to the political science building as he could. "You sure you don't want me to wait?"

"Nah, she might start rambling." Joe climbed out of the car. "Besides, that way dinner will be waiting when I get there. See ya."

"Later." Frank pulled away and Joe headed off toward the political science building.

The building was still brightly lit even though it was late. The pathways between the buildings were also fairly well lit, but with the heavy overcast, it was still pretty dark. The professor was still in her office, but she was getting ready to leave, so she did not bend Joe's ear for too long. After only twenty minutes, he was back outside, walking briskly along the pathway toward the edge of campus closest to their apartment. He was almost off campus when a sound made him turn. Something swished past his ear, grazing the side of his head.

"Hey!" Joe shouted. He jumped back as a shadowy figure behind him swung toward his head again.

"The son-of-a-bitch isn't even hiding it anymore!" his attacker screamed and swung again.

Joe ducked. He still could not tell what kind of weapon was being used against him, but he was not about to let it make contact with his skull. "What the hell are you talking about?!" he shouted.

"That bastard Eric fucked you in his room yesterday! I saw you!"

"What?!" Joe was so surprised he almost failed to duck out of the way in time. The club or whatever it was grazed his face, thumping against his jaw. He staggered back and his attacker pressed the advantage, leaping onto Joe and knocking him to the ground. Anger and fear flared up in Joe's chest. "Goddammit!" he gasped. "Why am I always the one who gets attacked on these stupid jobs?!" With all his strength, he kicked up with his legs and shoved with his arms, flinging Cody aside, because now he could see Cody's angry, tear-streaked face under the hood of his dark pull-over jacket. He scrambled away as Cody stumbled to his feet. "You're insane, Cody! I didn't fuck Eric!"

"Don't lie!" Cody screamed. "I've seen you going to his room, hanging out with him!" He lunged at Joe again. Prepared for the move this time, Joe side-stepped him and punched him hard. Cody went down with a grunt.

"Ouch!" Joe muttered. He shook his hand to relieve the sting in his fingers. Carefully, he kicked Cody's blackjack out of his reach and sat on Cody's back, pinning him to the ground. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"_911 – Please state the nature of the emergency._"

"I was just attacked leaving campus. I need the police." Joe closed his eyes for a moment as he calmly answered the emergency dispatcher's questions. Cody was not moving and Joe was starting to feel the letdown from post-adrenalin rush. After the dispatcher assured him the police were on the way, Joe hung up and dialed Frank's number.

"_Hey, Joe, what's up? You want a lift after all?_"

"No, I just thought you'd like to know I found Cody Allen."

"_What?!_"

"The bastard just attacked me. He accused me of fucking Eric Jansen and tried to bash my head in."

"_Are you all right?! I'm on my way! Did you call the cops?_"

"Yeah, I called them. I knocked Cody out and I'm sitting on him right now." Joe drew a breath. "But I wouldn't mind having you here."

"_I'm getting in the car right now. Where are you?_"

"Don't bother with the car. I'm right at the end of the block."

"_I'll be right there_."

Frank hung up and Joe put his phone away. Cody groaned, but he did not try to move. A minute later, Frank appeared, running down the street from the direction of their apartment. But before he reached Joe, a patrol car pulled up at the curb where the path Joe had been following reached the street. He stood up, holding his hands carefully over his head. Two patrolmen approached, one with his flashlight trained on Joe's face while the other hung back and swept the area with his beam.

"Are you the one who called 911?" the first patrolman asked.

"Yeah." Joe lowered a hand to point at Cody. "I was on my way home from a meeting with a professor and this guy jumped me. I think if you check, you'll find that a warrant has just been issued for him as a person of interest."

"Oh?" The patrolman illuminated Cody with his flashlight beam. "You know him?"

"His name is Cody Allen. He's wanted in connection with the Janey Lassiter assault."

The patrolman returned his light to Joe's face. "How do you know that? What's your connection?"

"I'm Joe Hardy. I work for a private investigation firm that was hired by the public defender's office. I have my ID in my pocket." He waited until the patrolman indicated he should remove it and then got it out.

"Who are you?" The other patrolman suddenly demanded.

"Frank Hardy. I work for the same agency as my brother. He called me."

Cody groaned and started to sit up. The patrolman immediately planted a foot in the middle of his back to hold him down. "Just stay right there," he ordered. He unhooked the cuffs from his belt and put his flashlight under his arm so he could cuff Cody's wrists. Then he pulled Cody into a sitting position.

The other patrolman took a handkerchief from his pocket and picked up the blackjack. "Is this what he assaulted you with?"

"Yeah." Joe touched his face. "He tagged me a little right here."

The officer shone his light on Joe's face and the beginnings of an ugly welt and bruise were already showing on his cheek and jaw line. "That looks painful. Do you need an ambulance?"

"No, thanks. My brother and I live just down the street. I'll be fine with a little ice and some TLC."

"You'll need to come down to the station and make a statement."

"Can I do that in the morning?"

"Yeah, no problem. But let me get your name down first." The patrolman wrapped up the blackjack in his handkerchief and stuffed it in a pocket. Then he took out a small notebook and pencil so he could write down Joe's name and address.

The other patrolman had gone to their car to call in. "The guy's right, Buck. Cody Allen's wanted for questioning."

"Ok." The patrolman addressed as Buck waved his pencil. "Let's load him up."

Cody was hauled to his feet and escorted into the back seat of the patrol car. Frank and Joe watched until the policemen pulled away from the curb and disappeared down the street.

Joe moaned. "I really need some aspirin right now. My whole face is starting to throb." They walked down the street in silence, but once they got home and Joe had a chance to look at his face in the mirror, he groaned again. "Geez, half my face is bruised! I didn't think he hit me that hard."

Frank patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I'll get some ice."

"Thanks." Joe swallowed two aspirins carefully and then went into the bedroom to stretch out. "Shit!" he exclaimed when Frank came in with the icepack. "Why does it always happen to me?"

"Bad karma," Frank chuckled. He handed the icepack to Joe and he settled it carefully on his face. "Do you still want to eat or do you think it will hurt too much to chew?"

"How about a stiff drink instead?"

"I can manage that." Frank went back into the kitchen, but when he returned, he was carrying two glasses. He handed one to Joe. "Cheers."

Joe sipped the gin and tonic carefully and then dropped his head back on the pillow. "I can't believe he thought I was fucking Eric. I was in his room for maybe half-an-hour. Why would he even think that was the reason I met up with him?"

"He's obviously a little fixated on Eric's love life," Frank replied. "Anyway, it's over now. It sounds like he's nuts enough that he just might confess. But let's not worry about that right now." He put his glass on the nightstand. "Let me look at that just to make sure it's only a bruise."

Joe lifted the icepack from his face and Frank carefully examined the injury.

"It looks like it's just bruised," Frank decided. He picked up his drink and sat back. "Anyway, I think this job must be over. They always seem to end with you getting beat up."

"I'm really getting sick of that."

Frank saluted him with his drink and took a long sip. "Why don't you get some rest? I'll email your professors and tell them you're going to be out for a couple of days."

"I don't think it's that bad!"

"Let's see how you feel in the morning." Frank leaned over and kissed Joe carefully on the forehead. "Thank you for once again managing to escape serious harm."

Joe smiled back. "You're welcome, big brother."


	9. Wrapping Up

_**Warning:**__ This chapter contains strong sexual content of a homosexual nature and mature subject matter. _

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 9: **Wrapping Up**

In the morning, half of Joe's face was covered in a large purple bruise. Worried, Frank checked him carefully again to make sure his cheek bone was not broken. Joe endured the examination in relative silence, although he grimaced when Frank probed the darkest part of the bruise with his fingertips.

"It doesn't feel broken," Frank finally reported. "I think he just grazed you really hard."

"The bastard," Joe muttered. "I need more aspirin."

"We can stop by the clinic later," Frank said. "Maybe they'll give you something stronger. I do think you should skip class today."

Joe nodded and then winced. "Yeah. It's throbbing a lot and I'm not sure I could concentrate."

"Anyway," Frank continued. "I talked to Doug before you woke up. He's going to meet us at the police station. He wants to make sure you don't get hassled just because you're young and a part-time investigator."

"Good." Joe glanced at the clock. "We should probably get going. It's almost nine."

Frank nodded. "Get dressed. I'll make you some coffee."

"Thanks."

When they arrived at the police station, Doug was already there, chatting up the desk sergeant.

"Oh, here are my guys now," he said when he saw them, interrupting his own conversation.

Joe stepped up to the desk. At this hour, there were very few people in the waiting area. "I'm Joe Hardy. I should be expected."

The sergeant did not even look down at his blotter. "Yup," he said. "Detective Rangill is waiting for you." He buzzed the door. "You know the way, right, Doug?"

"Sure do. Thanks, Tom." Doug led the way through the door into the squad room. Detective Rangill's desk was toward the back, with a row of filing cabinets behind his chair. He regarded them with a sour expression as they approached.

"You're really making a mess of my investigation," he grumbled loudly as they neared him. "You present this guy as a possible suspect in the morning and then get him picked up in the afternoon. When am I supposed to do my job?"

"It was more like evening," Joe replied lightly. He sank down into the chair next to Rangill's desk. "And I can assure you I didn't plan it that way."

Rangill leaned forward to exam Joe's injury close up. "Looks nasty. The patrolman said he had a blackjack. You're lucky he didn't make solid contact."

"Tell me about it."

Doug cleared his throat. "I assume Mr. Allen is still in custody."

"Oh, yeah," Rangill replied. "We can hold him for a little while longer just on the assault charge. And the DA already told me he's going to try to get Allen held without bail as a flight risk while they send his DNA out for testing. He thinks he can make a solid case against Allen for the assault on the Lassiter girl, based on the evidence you've collected so far."

"Has Cody said anything?" Frank asked.

"Nah, he's not talking. But we're expecting him to get a court-appointed attorney sometime later today. Maybe the lawyer will get something out of him." Rangill slid a keyboard across his desk toward himself and turned his monitor, sitting well back in one corner, at an angle so he and Joe could both read it. "I hate this thing," Rangill muttered as he began pecking at the keyboard. He squinted at the screen until a form appeared. "Okay. Let's get your statement typed up."

When they left the station later, Doug smiled. "Rangill was less testy than I expected," he chuckled. "He must think this case is about to wrap up. His humor always improves when he thinks a case is solved."

"They still have to find where Cody was staying," Frank pointed out. "Right now, the evidence linking him to Janey is a little circumstantial."

"True," Doug agreed. "But I'm confident they will." He stopped at his car, which was parked a little closer to the station than Frank and Joe's car. "You boys should step back from the investigation now and let the police and the DA take it from here. And get that bruise looked at."

"We will," Frank assured him. Doug climbed into his car and waved as he drove away. Frank turned to Joe. "Shall we go to the clinic?"

"Yeah." Joe gingerly touched his cheek. "I think the aspirin is already wearing off. I probably shouldn't be doing all this talking."

After a quick stop at the campus clinic and the pharmacy, they returned to their apartment about an hour later with a prescription of vicodin and orders for Joe to take it easy for a couple of days.

"You should go to class," Joe said as he stretched out on the bed. "I'll be fine. You know vicodin puts me to sleep."

"I know." Frank sat on the edge of the bed and took Joe's hand. "But you know I tend to worry."

Joe smiled. "I know. It's one of the things I like about you."

"Really?" Frank laughed. "You usually complain when I fuss over you."

"Except when I feel really bad," Joe said. He squeezed Frank's hand. "Dad's bound to hear about this from Doug. You should call him and invite him for dinner tonight so he can see for himself I'm mostly okay."

"Do you think you'll be up for it?"

"I should be. I think I just need more sleep."

"Okay." Frank released Joe's hand and stood up. "Call me if you need anything. I should be back around three."

But Frank did not get the chance to call their dad later, because Fenton Hardy called him while he was walking to class. Frank chuckled to himself when he saw Fenton's name on the screen when he pulled the vibrating phone from his pocket.

"Hey, Dad. I was going to call you later."

"_I heard about Joe_," Fenton replied. "_How is he?_"

"He's fine. He's got a pretty livid bruise on his face but he's home sleeping right now. I think he'll be back to normal in a day or two. Why don't you come over for dinner? You can stay overnight."

"_Well…_"

Frank chuckled at the hesitation in his dad's voice. "I'm sure your lady friend can spare you for one night, Dad."

"_I wasn't thinking about that_," Fenton said quickly. Frank could imagine him blushing. "_But if you don't mind_," Fenton continued, "_it has been awhile since we got together_."

"Of course we don't mind. We're always glad to see you."

"_Alright, then. I'll be there about six_."

"Great! See you then." Frank disconnected and continued on to class, making a mental list of what was in their refrigerator and pantry as he walked. "Maybe I should run out and pick something up after I check on Joe," he murmured to himself.

When he got home later that afternoon, he found Joe in the kitchen putting away the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Joe! You're supposed to be resting. Why didn't you leave that for me?"

Joe smiled. "I woke up and got bored. You know I hate sitting around alone doing nothing."

"So you couldn't watch TV like a normal person?" Frank put his arms around Joe's waist to make him stop. "Go sit down. I'll finish this."

"Oh, very well!" Joe chuckled. "But aren't you worried I'll get used to all this coddling?"

"No." Frank kissed him gently, mindful of his bruise. "Now go sit. Dad's coming over tonight and I think I want to run out to the store for a few things."

"Dad's not fussy," Joe pointed out as he plopped down on the couch. "He'll happily eat whatever we make."

"I know that," Frank replied. "But that doesn't mean we should let our standards slide. Anyway, I was just thinking of having steak and potatoes with steamed vegetables. But we're low on vegetables and we only have russet potatoes. I want red ones."

"So let me finish the dishes and you go shopping."

"Stay where you are," Frank ordered. "Unless you need to check the spare bedroom. Dad's going to stay overnight."

"I haven't been in there for weeks," Joe admitted. It was ostensibly his bedroom, but of course he never used it. "I'll fluff the sheets so it looks like I just put on fresh ones." He ambled into the second bedroom.

When Frank finished putting away the dishes, he poked his head into the spare bedroom to check on Joe. "I'm going out now," he said. "Promise me you won't do any other chores while I'm gone."

"I should at least clean the bathroom toilet."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Stop acting like a housewife."

"Oh?" Joe moved close and nuzzled Frank's neck. "But you like it when I perform my wifely duties."

"I'm going to spank you if you keep this up," Frank threatened.

Joe grinned. "Promise? You know I love a good spanking!"

"You better be on your best behavior while Dad's here," Frank warned.

"Always," Joe said. He patted Frank's cheek. "Go shopping. I'll just finish up in here and clean the toilet. Then I'll sit quietly on the couch like a good boy until you get back."

"I'm not sure I believe that," Frank said, "but I'll take you at your word. I shouldn't be too long."

When Frank returned from the store, Joe was not only sitting quietly on the couch, he was stretched out on one side leaning on a pillow watching TV.

"That was quick," Joe said. "Need any help?"

"Nope." Frank deposited his bags on the counter in the kitchen. "I'm going to roast the potatoes. Sound alright?"

"Sounds great."

Since dinner would not take that long to prepare, Frank laid everything out and then joined Joe on the couch while they waited for their father to arrive. Punctual as always, Fenton arrived a few minutes after six with a small overnight bag in one hand.

"Hi guys!" Fenton said cheerfully as Frank opened the door.

"Come on in, Dad!" Frank waved Fenton in. "You're right on time."

"Joe!" Fenton exclaimed. A look of concern wrinkled his brow. "That's a nasty looking bruise."

"Yeah, it's pretty ugly." Joe reflexively touched his cheek with his fingertips. "I got clipped with a blackjack. It could have been a lot worse."

"Hmm…" Fenton studied the injury without touching it. "Nothing broken, I take it?"

"Yeah, just a really bad bruise," Joe said. "Can I get you a soft drink?"

"Sure. Something clear, if you've got it. I'm watching my caffeine."

"Ok." Joe went into the kitchen.

Frank took Fenton's bag. "I'll put this in Joe's room, Dad. He's going to bunk in with me tonight."

Fenton followed Frank into the second bedroom. "It's pretty neat in here."

"You know Joe," Frank said casually. "He takes after Mom."

Fenton leaned against the wall by the door. "It almost looks like no one uses this room," he said.

Frank managed a faint chuckle. "Well, about all Joe does in here is sleep, really. We both tend to do homework in the living room or the kitchen."

"Neither of you is dating anyone?"

"Not right now." Frank shrugged, trying to keep his voice relaxed. "With school and our part-time job, we're pretty busy."

Fenton was quiet for a moment. "Joe never sleeps in this room, does he?"

Frank swallowed and returned his father's unwavering gaze.

"I know I was pretty out of it when your mother left, but I am a detective, Frank. I notice things." Fenton glanced around the room. "You and Joe are… more than just brothers, aren't you?"

"Dad…" Frank began hesitantly.

"I'm not judging you, Frank, but I would like to hear the truth."

Frank drew a breath. "Yes, Dad, you're right. Joe and I are a lot closer than brothers."

Fenton nodded slightly. "Is it sexual?"

"Yes." Frank watched his father's face, but Fenton's expression was unreadable.

Fenton shifted his weight and then pushed away from the wall. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but… is it mutual? You didn't push Joe into this, did you?"

Frank stared. "No! Why would you think that? Joe and I…" He searched for the right words. "We're in love, that's all there is to it. I would never do anything to hurt Joe. He's the most important thing in the world to me."

Fenton nodded. "I'm relieved to hear that. I can't say I'm glad," he chuckled self-consciously, "but I'm relieved." He rubbed the top of his head, where his hair was just starting to thin. "It seems I haven't lost my touch. There were all these little clues, even before you guys moved out, that had me wondering, but I didn't want to believe it. Does your mother know?"

"I hope not!" Frank said fervently. "We were trying to hide it from you both. I should have known that we couldn't keep it a secret from you forever, though."

Fenton laughed suddenly and he ruffled Frank's hair. "Damn right you should have known! Who do you think taught you everything you know?"

Frank ducked out from under his father's hand with a laugh. "You did!"

Joe appeared in the doorway with a glass in his hand. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Fenton said smoothly. He accepted the glass from Joe and took a sip. "I was just reminding your brother here that you have me to thank for your success. Without the skills I taught you as boys, you wouldn't be the detectives you are today."

"We know that," Joe said. He tilted his head back toward the living room. "Come have a seat, Dad. I'll tell you all about the case while Frank makes dinner."

"Sounds good."

-o-o-o-o-

Spending the evening with Fenton talking about detective work reminded Joe of their youth. He could not count the number of times the three of them had sat around the dinner table talking about a case. In retrospect, it was no wonder that Laura Hardy had finally tired of them and left. She had never shared the passion for mystery and investigation that tied Joe, Frank and their father together. The three of them had a bond that had always excluded her, to the point where they had not really even been aware of the exclusion. Even now, although Joe missed his mother, he never managed to find anything substantial to talk to her about.

After a satisfying dinner and a pleasant evening of conversation, Joe finally had to excuse himself for the night. All the talking had left his face throbbing. He really needed to take one of his vicodin tablets and lie down. But he was only in bed for a few minutes when Frank came in.

"You're not going to bed already, are you?" Joe asked.

"Yeah." Frank sat on the edge of the bed. "Dad's pretty tired too and he wants to get up early."

Joe studied Frank's face. Something in his brother's attitude bugged him. "What's wrong?"

Frank half-smiled. "You can always tell, can't you?"

"Of course. I know you better than anyone," Joe replied seriously. "So what's the matter?"

"Dad knows."

Joe frowned. "Knows what?" He watched Frank's face for a moment and then his eyes widened. "You mean he knows about us?"

"Yeah." Frank put his hand on Joe's arm. "He is one of the best detectives in the country, after all. He said he picked up on a lot of little clues and figured it out. He had just asked me about it in the bedroom when you came in with his soft drink."

"Ah." Joe took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So what did he say?"

"He was more worried that I had forced you into it."

"What?!"

"Well, I am the older brother after all." Frank smirked. "And everyone does appear to perceive you as a submissive sex object."

"I'm not submissive!" Joe growled.

"But you are slender, sexy and gorgeous."

"Well, that's true enough." Joe's grin turned into a rueful smile and he shook his head. "So Dad knows. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But it didn't seem like he acted any differently toward us during dinner."

"Yeah, it didn't," Frank agreed. He rubbed his hand up and down Joe's arm. "But if he's suspected for a long time, he's had plenty of time to come to terms with the idea."

Joe thought for a moment and then grinned. "But that means I can get my spanking tonight!"

Frank put his other hand over his face. "I am not spanking you," he said flatly. "And Dad being here has nothing to do with it."

Joe stuck out his lower lip. "You wouldn't be spanking my face; just my bare, firm bottom." He wiggled his hips. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Go to sleep," Frank ordered sternly. "We will discuss this tomorrow." Joe made a face and rolled over onto his side. Frank patted his bottom. "Goodnight, Joe," he said.

Joe smiled at him over his shoulder. "Goodnight, Frank."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The bruise on Joe's face started to fade after a few days, working its way through a rainbow of colors. After a week, the deep purple color had faded through green to a sickly yellow, with a lingering dark circle under his eye. He had stopped taking the vicodin after the first two days, and by the end of the week he was not even taking any aspirin. When he and Frank arrived at the office that afternoon, Doug patted him on the shoulder.

"You're looking pretty good there, Joe," Doug said. "Does it still hurt?"

"Nah, it's pretty well healed up. It's mostly just leftover color, now."

"That's good. I've got some news about the Allen case. Sit down." He waved them toward the chairs in front of his desk as he made his way around in back. "The police located the motel where Cody was staying. He had a key in his possession when he was arrested and Rangill was able to trace it. The place is a dump, which turned out to be a good thing. No one had emptied the trash and there was a used syringe in the garbage. It's being tested right now for DNA traces. They also found a hooded sweatshirt with Eric's name written on the label in Sharpie."

Joe glanced at Frank. "Eric's sweatshirt would have his scent all over it."

Frank nodded. "That's right. If Cody wore the sweatshirt during the assault, it would explain why Janey thought she recognized her assailant's scent."

Doug nodded. "That's what the police think, but they won't formally charge him until after the DNA evidence off the syringe comes back. But if it tests positive for Eric's semen, which seems pretty likely, that will let Eric off the hook and Cody can be charged with the assault on Janey Lassiter."

"Were there traces of blood on the syringe?" Joe asked. "Janey did have some vaginal abrasions."

"I don't know," Doug said. "Rangill's being pretty close-lipped right now while he builds the case against Cody. But I want to congratulate you. You two did an excellent job on this case. I think you would have cracked it even if Cody hadn't lost it and decided to attack Joe." Doug frowned. "I'm still not sure why he did that. Had he just left town, we might never have been able to prove his involvement."

"I think," Joe said slowly, "that Cody was so obsessed with Eric that even the thought that he might have become involved with another guy was too much for him."

"But why you?" Doug asked. He frowned in confusion. "Eric's around guys all the time. Why would Cody become fixated on you?"

Joe shrugged. "Who know? I've had guys hit on me before, so maybe I have that vibe."

"When is the DA likely to drop the charges against Eric?" Frank asked abruptly.

Doug did not seem to notice the sudden change in topic. "It should be soon, I think. They will certainly do it when Cody is charged. But it might happen before then. Even without the DNA evidence, the circumstantial evidence against Cody is pretty damning." Doug chuckled. "But not everyone is waiting for the official word. I heard the basketball coach has already invited Eric back to practice."

Frank nodded. "We heard that, too. The fans are pretty excited about it."

"How's Janey? Have you talked to her?" Doug leaned forward, folding his arms on the desk.

"I have," Joe said. "She's doing alright. She was pretty upset to find out that she was just being used to get at Eric. But in a way, she was even angrier that Eric hid his homosexuality from her and that it led to all this."

"So Eric's been outed?" Doug sat back and tapped his fingers on the desk.

"Yup," Frank nodded. "It's pretty much all over campus and no one seems to care. People are more concerned that this whole mess has caused him to miss a bunch of games. They're already talking about how much better next year will be without the distraction."

"The distraction?" Doug lifted an eyebrow. "I would hardly consider a sexual assault a distraction."

"For a lot of people," Frank said, "that's all it is when the assault doesn't affect them personally."

Doug made a face. "I guess that's human nature." He pushed to his feet. "Well, I should let you boys attend to your studies for awhile. I know you've missed a lot of classes because of this."

"We're managing," Joe said. He and Frank also rose. "There's nothing like real-world experience to supplement classroom work."

"Very true." Doug escorted them to the door of his office. "I'll be in touch."

Walking back to the car under gloomy skies, Frank turned to Joe. "So, Eric's out and none the worse for it; and Dad knows about us and is ok with it. This has been a pretty exciting semester so far."

"And we haven't even had finals yet."

Frank groaned. "Don't mention finals! Do you realize how many tests I'll have to take?"

"I told you not to double-major."

"Don't start that again."

"Let's go home. You still owe me a spanking."

"What? I already paid that debt."

"You forgot about the interest."

"Interest?! On a spanking?!"

"Compounded daily."

Frank looked up at the sky and shook his head. "And Dad was worried about you. Little does he know…" He continued to grumble all the way home, but when they arrived he followed Joe into the bedroom with a gleam in his eye. "Now then, exactly how much interest do I owe?"

"Oh, I'd say at least four hours worth," Joe replied with a smile. He began to undress. "You can repay me slowly."

"Four hours, eh?" Frank grinned. "Good thing I had a big lunch."

"Just as long as you have a big…"

Frank kissed Joe soundly to stop him. "No lewd remarks, please."

Joe draped his arms around Frank's shoulders. "You usually like my lewd remarks. Or at least my lewd behavior."

Frank slid his hands down and gripped Joe's bottom. "I admit I'm hopelessly attracted to everything about you." He nibbled Joe's earlobe. "You really are my favorite person, little brother."

"And you're mine, big brother," Joe responded. He nipped Frank's shoulder. "Why don't you finish undressing me?"

"With pleasure."

When he was naked, Joe crawled onto the bed on his hands and knees and waggled his bottom at Frank. "Does this give you any ideas?" he purred.

"Oh, yeah," Frank rasped. He skinned out of his own clothes in record time and walked onto the bed on his knees. "But you know my hands can be kind of tender, so I think I better use an implement to spank you."

"An implement?" Joe gasped in mock horror. "It won't hurt, will it?"

"Not much, I promise." Frank squeezed lubricant onto his fingers and applied it liberally to Joe. "That doesn't hurt, does it?"

Joe moaned and lifted his hips. "No, but it doesn't feel much like a spanking."

"I'm getting to the spanking," Frank assured him. He continued to lave Joe with lubricant until Joe was writhing with excitement.

"I think I really need that spanking now!" Joe gasped out finally.

"Good," Frank said, "because my implement is honed and ready to be applied." He grasped Joe by the hips and worked himself in.

Joe arched his back and gasped. "Oh, yes!" he exclaimed breathlessly. "Pound me thoroughly!"

Joe was so ready for it that Frank did not need to wait for him to adjust. He began to pound Joe's backside eagerly, his hips slapping against Joe's bottom. The sound was rather like a spanking. Frank closed his eyes, sinking into the bliss of coupling with Joe. There was truly nothing better and nothing felt more right to him. Joe's cries of joy heightened the pleasure and Frank cried out in response. After what felt like a delicious eternity, climax swept over him and he went rigid, shaking with ecstasy. Joe shuddered helplessly, his groans of fulfillment echoing Frank's. When it was over, Frank slumped over Joe's back.

"I suppose you'll tell me I still have a few more interest payments to make," Frank wheezed.

"That was a great first installment," Joe moaned. "But I think I need a few more."

"Well," Frank said with a soft moan, "I always pay my debts." He slid his hand under Joe and caressed him intimately. "Prepare for installment number two."

Joe gasped when Frank grasped him. "Ah! If you keep touching me like that, you may drive up the interest rate!"

"Really?" Frank stroked Joe firmly and felt him stiffen in response. "I'm good for it." And he began moving in Joe again.

-o-o-o-

It was completely dark outside when Joe finally agreed that Frank's debt was paid in full. "I feel great!" Joe murmured. He was curled up on his side with Frank spooned up tightly against his back. "We haven't fucked like that for a long time."

"It has been awhile," Frank agreed. He stroked Joe's hair with his free hand, and then slid it under Joe's arm and around his torso. "We've had a lot going on."

They were both silent for a moment and then Joe sighed. "Frank, I promise that if anyone else finds out about us, I won't deny anything. I'm not ashamed of how I feel about you."

"I promise, too," Frank said gravely. "I will never deny to anyone what you mean to me. I love you, Joe."

"I love you, too, Frank." Joe twisted his head around so Frank could kiss him."And I also promise not to tempt you into sex during finals week, even when all my tests are done and you still have three or four to go."

"Oh, thanks!" Frank replied with a grimace. "How generous!"

"I can never do too much for my big brother," Joe chuckled. He held Frank's gaze for a moment and then kissed him very softly. "Or for the man I love."

-o- The End -o-

_Thank you everyone for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed it, even when I glossed over pesky technical details of law enforcement procedure and such things. I hate doing actual research. That's why I usually stick to fantasy! Anyway, it will probably be awhile before I visit with Frank and Joe again, but catti-dono has given me an interesting idea for the next story, so check back with me later. Ciao!_


End file.
